Will of the Gods
by Takashidaimao
Summary: As his beloved student grows up and comes to rely fully on himself, Piccolo begins to feel his life lacks purpose anymore. However, just as his doubts begin to take hold, a new purpose seems to fall from the sky and land right into his empty hands. Could this be coincidence, or fate? Piccolo/OC, Yaoi and mpreg warning for later chapters.
1. The Falling Star

"And, should the Gods deem it necessary, they shall fell the sky, heave the land, and snuff the stars, if for no other reason than to bring together two tiny pieces in the Infinite Puzzle." – Passage from the Scrolls of the Seven

* * *

Sasei was still toweling himself down as he stepped out of the small shower stall, a fine mist of warm steam following him out into the somewhat cramped interior of his spacecraft. The _Star's End_ was a relatively small vessel, a stealth cruiser big enough for a single person and little more besides. The cramped cabin served as personal quarters, navigation station, battle station… just about anything one would need for a lonely trek across the galaxy.

"How long until we pass within broadcasting range of the nearest Federation relay station?" Sasei asked to the empty air as he casually pulled on a pair of black, slightly baggy pants that transitioned sharply to being skin-tight below the knee. The apparent solitude of the cabin did not detract from the command in his smooth baritone voice. He clearly expected someone to answer him.

And someone did.

"The nearest Federation-controlled relay station is thirty-five point two parsecs from our present location. At current speed, we are projected to enter within broadcasting range in approximately six galactic-standard hours." The answer came in a soft melding of two nearly identical male voices, a slight mechanical timbre present as was common with even the most sophisticated AI systems. Sasei nodded his head in satisfaction, not at all disturbed by the disembodied voice that addressed him. AI-controlled ships weren't terribly common among most space-faring races, even among his own race anymore. He supposed this was just one more medieval holdover of his, a clinging to traditions long since gone.

He pulled a light vest over his broad shoulders, letting it hang open over his bare chest. He was never fond of uniforms, so stiff and restricting. So long as he was out here in the backwaters of the galaxy, he saw no need to stick so strictly to dress code as to make himself uncomfortable. Best to save formality for when he was face-to-face with his superiors back on Trantor. For now, he was content to just sit back in his pilot's chair, relax, and watch the endless sea of stars zoom past just beyond the forward viewport.

He wasn't able to relax for long. Suddenly, the entire ship shook violently, the star field outside the viewport sent tumbling into an erratic spiral. Sasei dug black claws into the arms of his seat to keep from being jarred out of it, bracing himself against the force of an unplanned, uncontrolled change in velocity. It didn't take a genius to figure out what must have happened; the ship had been hit.

"Damage report!" he barked out as soon as he could gather himself from the initial shock. The ship's AI replied faithfully, it's self-echo of a voice showing no discernable concern for the present situation.

"Impact to starboard aft, directional thrusters operating at eight percent efficiency, main engines offline."

Sasei cursed under his breath at that, the alien expletive coming out as an almost reptilian growl. What could have crippled the ship so suddenly? A meteor impact? If so, it'd have to be an extremely lucky shot on the meteor's part.

"Are there any habitable worlds nearby? Can you manage to steer us into an intercept path?" he asked a little calmer now, the stars outside slowing slightly in their wild spinning. He could hear a very faint buzzing reverberating from the aft of the ship as what remained of the directional thrusters fought to right their course. He knew that, with the engines out, they'd be flying on built up momentum alone. A momentum that wouldn't deteriorate in the vacuum of space unless effected the gravitational influence of a planet or even a large asteroid. He hoped there was enough of the thrusters left for the ship's AI to compensate for any drift that would be caused by that.

"This system contains one Class-M planet, inhabited by approximately 8 billion intelligent lifeforms. However, the lifeforms in question are not of a space-faring race and are unaware of intelligent life outside their planet. Federation Protocol forbids—"

"To the Void with 'Federation Protocol!'" Sasei interrupted, bearing his fangs instinctively as he growled out his dissent. "I refuse to be reduced to a piece of flotsam for their precious regulation! Get me on that planet! I'll figure out where to go from there as soon as I'm on solid ground."

"As you wish." Was the ever-unperturbed reply, and that was that. Over the next few hours, Sasei could do nothing but stare forward out the viewport, watching helplessly as a pale blue sphere drew nearer and nearer.

* * *

The AI of the _Star's End_ was nearly correct. Most of the population of the planet Earth was blissfully unaware of the teeming galactic civilization beyond the bounds of their solar system. However, there was one small group on that pale blue sphere who knew all too well. A majority of this group was currently in the rural eastern province of the main continent, gathering for an evening celebration at the residence of one of the greatest heroes the planet had ever seen.

Piccolo stood out on the balcony of the large, dome-shaped house that served as the Son family's residence. It wasn't always this big, of course. Hercule had built the place as a wedding gift for his daughter and his new son-in-law, and clearly spared no expense to improve upon the design of the original humble home that still sat just next door. The extra space was certainly going to come in handy, especially since the family would be expanding soon enough.

The Namekian cast a stoic glance down at the festivities in the yard below, preferring to observe rather than join in. They had set up long tables out on the lawn, half of which held enough catered food to feed an army, the other half holding gifts wrapped in pastel wrapping paper, pink bows and balloons everywhere. Most everyone was there, all gathered in small groups and chatting. The biggest group was, of course, gathered around a rather pregnant Videl.

He didn't let his eyes linger there for too long. It was all just so odd. Vaguely surreal, even. To him, Gohan was still that same little boy he'd come to think of as a son, yet here he was, about to become a father himself. There was something a bit bittersweet about the thought. It wasn't that he disapproved at all. No, far from it. Gohan had found a nice girl for himself, and he actually got along with Videl rather well. She was polite to him, a courtesy not many humans bothered to give him, and in turn he treated her with due respect. He even accepted her invitation to this silly 'baby shower,' a human tradition he'd never understood, but he knew it would make her happy if he came.

Perhaps it was just dawning on him that Gohan was all grown up, with a family and responsibilities of his own. He didn't need his old mentor anymore. That sort of thing was happening more and more lately, it seemed. Even Dende would have no more use for him after his training was through. There's only so much an old Guardian can teach a new Guardian before the former must step back and let the latter take his place proper. After that, what use did he have on this world? Perhaps he should just…

Piccolo's reverie was broken when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced down behind him, meeting the eyes of a grinning Gohan. That face… Even the hardened Namekian warrior couldn't help but smile back. That grin hadn't once left the half-Saiyan's face since he first found out he was going to be a father. There wasn't a thing that could bring him down. Was it any wonder that it brought a smile gleaming through even Piccolo's iron-clad façade of stoicism? It was all he'd ever wanted for the boy after all. To see him so happy meant the world to him.

"What're you doing up here, Piccolo? Not enjoying the party?" Gohan asked, his grin faltering for a split second at the prospect of having made his closest friend uncomfortable in any way. Oh, now that wouldn't do at all, no matter how justified his worries may have been.

"It's not that at all, don't worry. It's just… It's not the sort of gathering I'm apt to attending." he replied, trying to dismiss the subject as casually as possible. Gohan let out an amused snort at that.

"Are there _any_ gatherings you're apt to attending?"

Piccolo gave the young half-Saiyan a sardonic smile. "I suppose you've got me there."

"What I'm trying to say is… Thank you for coming. I know this sort of thing isn't really your scene – and don't you try denying it for my sake. I know when you're uncomfortable. You don't hide it as well as you think. Anyway, I really appreciate it. Videl's happy that you decided to come, too. She's really taken a liking to you, you know. She's even agreed to…"

Piccolo waited for Gohan to finish his thought, but it never came. When he looked back down at him again, he found that the young man had gone rather sheepish all of a sudden. Piccolo folded his arms across his chest and cleared his throat lightly.

"And you say _I_ can't hide a look of unease… What's wrong?"

"N-nothing's wrong, just… Well, Videl and I were just wondering if…" Another long pause, in which Gohan flushed slightly and was unable to make eye contact. He managed to finally get it out, but only in a whisper. "… If you'd mind being the baby's godfather."

Now it was Piccolo's turn to struggle for words. He knew the concept of a godfather, of course. One didn't watch over humanity for centuries and not pick up on a few things here and there. He was just absolutely astonished that it was being offered to someone like him. That, and… Well, he already knew he could handle young boys with Saiyan blood. He'd had plenty of practice with that, but Videl was having a girl. You couldn't be so rough on a little girl, he knew that, but that was about his extent of his knowledge on the subject. Still, this was _Gohan's_ daughter. He couldn't say no to that.

"I-I'd be honored. Thank you." He replied, unable to completely choke down the unease in his voice. If Gohan noticed at all, he didn't show it. His grin returned in full force.

"Great! Thank you so much! I couldn't think of anyone else I'd be more comfortable with this sort of thing."

It was a few moments later that their conversation picked back up again, this time with Piccolo taking the initiative. "Speaking of fathers, I can't help but notice yours isn't here."

"Yeah, this isn't really Dad's scene either. Vegeta, too. As much as Mom and Bulma would probably have wanted to drag them along anyway, I'm sure they'd just be bored at this kind of party. I think they're still off training with Whis anyway."

Piccolo nodded in agreement at that. He honestly couldn't picture Goku or Vegeta coming to something like this. Perhaps it was for the best. Those two seemed to attract trouble wherever they went, especially Goku. Uncomfortable as it was for he himself to be there, he wouldn't want the event unpleasantly disrupted for Videl.

"Look, Mommy! A shooting star!" came Marron's tiny squeak of a voice from down below. Piccolo wasn't sure why he'd picked that up out of the myriad of conversations going on there at the party, but he inevitably caught himself looking up to the sky nonetheless. The sun was well on its way to sinking completely behind the horizon, the orange-tinted sky fading more and more into an inky bluish black, the first of the night's stars just barely visible directly overhead. He honestly only expected to catch a brief glimpse of light streaking across the twilight sky, a meteorite the size of a pebble burning up as it entered Earth's atmosphere. What he saw was a fireball.

"Piccolo…" Gohan whispered as the streak of flame disappeared behind the distant tree tops. The Namekian didn't have to ask what he was referring to.

"You felt it too, then?"

The half-Saiyan nodded gravely. Piccolo couldn't help but curse under his breath. To the average Earthling, that may have looked like little more than a particularly spectacular meteorite. To the knowing eye, however, the object's true identity was unmistakable; it was a spaceship. An _occupied_ spaceship. He just had to jinx it, didn't he?

* * *

Gohan and Piccolo weren't the only ones to pick up on the true gravity of the situation. Aside from 18 and her young daughter, most of the guests present would be able to sense the life-force of the single occupant on the burning spacecraft. They were able to sense as well that same life-force flickering to near nothingness upon the ground-shaking collision in the nearby mountains.

There was no way to ignore the event now. Whatever was on that ship, friend, foe, or otherwise, it was badly hurt and couldn't be left out there to die. It was for this reason that Piccolo, Krillin, and Gohan were now flying overtop the vast forest in search of the wreckage.

"Man, are you sure whoever it was is still alive? I can hardly sense anything out here that comes close to what it was before it crashed." Krillin asked, a slight note of hope in his voice. It was his general experience that nothing good came out of a spaceship landing on Earth.

"It's there, it's just exceptionally week. It's hard to pick it out from all of the animals around here. Besides, even if they are dead, it wouldn't be wise to just leave a spaceship and corpse out here for someone to find. It would ultimately cause more problems than it's worth." Piccolo replied, coolly shooting down the former monk's hopes of turning back. He knew Krillin had re-taken his Buddhist vow of peace and sworn off fighting, something he was apparently rather serious about maintaining now that he had a family. Piccolo genuinely hoped he wouldn't be forced to break that vow.

"Maybe we should split up. We couldn't see exactly where it landed, and the sooner we get to it, the better the chances are that the pilot is still alive." Gohan suggested. Even with the possibility of the unknown pilot being a threat, the concern for the life of another took precedent in the young Saiyan's mind. Truly the mark of a good character, Piccolo couldn't help but think. He nodded in agreement and the three of them parted ways, Krillin veering west into the setting sun, Gohan taking the darkening east, and Piccolo heading straight north in the general direction of the burning vessel's flight path.

Piccolo had been flying slowly for about ten minutes when movement caught his eye. He managed to come to a halt just as a huge black bird shot up out of the tree cover to intersect his path. If he hadn't stopped, he'd have crashed right into it. He watched for a moment as the bird cawed unhappily at him, veering off to fly in a vaguely northwestern direction. As he watched, he couldn't help but notice a thin, nearly invisible stream of smoke rising up from the trees in the direction it flew. It was only then that it clicked in his mind just was kind of bird it had been; it was a vulture.

Piccolo took off as fast as he could in the direction of the smoke, shooting past the large scavenger and letting out a burst of energy that was sure to signal to the others that he'd found the shipwreck. Once he came upon a streak of charred land devoid of trees, he dropped down. The craft – at least what was left of it – was about the size of a small passenger jet, its wings curved forward like two claws of an open pincer. Its long, sleek black hull was horribly charred and still smoldering towards the back, where one would imagine the engines would be. Perhaps this alien truly did land here purely because the ship was damaged and not for any ill purpose.

That was a question for later, though. He shot a quick glance at the sky above, spotting the large vulture from earlier circling overhead against the backdrop of twinkling stars. How ironic. Without that damned buzzard, he likely wouldn't have found the ship in time to save the pilot, yet it was a corpse that carrion-eater wanted more than anything. As it was, Piccolo could still feel the faint flicker of life in the cabin of the ship. He had time, but not much.

The Namekian leapt up to the top of the ship, just over where he imagined one would put a cockpit in such a vessel. Grabbing hold of an edge of metallic plating that had come loose in the crash, Piccolo began peeling back the hull as fast as he could manage. Once he'd cleared a big enough gap, he looked in.

A figure sat slumped to one side of what was obviously a pilot's seat, a streak of deep purple blood running down the side of his face from a wound on his head. Oddly enough, the one feature that unconsciously leaped out at him was the black tattoo that covered the alien's entire face, like tribal war paint in the vague shape of a bird. The truly astonishing fact, however, didn't make itself apparent until Piccolo realized why the tattoo was the first thing he noticed. The color of the skin, the intricate lines naturally marking his skin… The body seemed so natural to him he might have seen it every day of his life. In fact, he did. Perhaps that was why it hadn't clicked immediately, but it seemed to be the single most important identifying factor he could have made.

The pilot was a Namekian.


	2. Sasei

The strange Namekian was rushed back to the Son house the instant they were able to pull him from the wreckage of his ship. Videl ushered the group into the house when they returned, and Dende was waiting inside to heal the poor fellow. Piccolo laid the stranger out on the couch, stepping back to let the young Guardian do his work. Bulma had rushed in shortly after, curious to see the injured man they'd brought in. She kept her distance as he was being healed, wandering over towards Piccolo with her brows knit in confusion.

"Piccolo, do you know this guy? I don't recognize him at all." Bulma whispered, eager not to cause any more concern in the room. Her statement was well-justified. Nearly two decades earlier, she'd played host to what had remained of the Namekian race after Frieza's destruction of the planet. There was less than a hundred left, and she knew each and every one of them by name. This one resembled none of them.

"I don't either, and his ship is nothing like the Namekians build. In fact, I didn't think they had ships at all anymore." Piccolo replied just as softly. What's more, he'd never heard of a tribal tradition among his race that included such prominent tattooing, either from Elder Muri's stories or his memories inherited from Nail. But if he hadn't come from the small villages on New Namek, where could he possibly have come from?

"Piccolo?" Dende whispered from over by the couch as the stranger stirred. Piccolo approached while everyone else but Dende backed away a bit. It was more or less universally understood that one would feel less distress if they woke up to see members of their own kind standing over them as opposed to strange creatures they'd never encountered before. The stranger's eyes slowly blinked open, staring straight up at the two in confusion.

Piccolo couldn't quite stifle a small gasp. His eyes were blue. He'd never seen a Namekian with blue eyes before. Not that he'd taken to staring into the eyes of every other Namekian he'd ever met, but it served to confirm that, indeed, he'd never met this man in his life. He'd have remembered eyes like that, even if not for the black ink covering most of his face. Tattoos could be acquired at any time, after all.

Hesitantly, the stranger sat up, still staring between Dende and Piccolo with a look of confusion.

"Wh-what planet is this?" he asked suddenly, his dialect similar to the one Vegeta used when he'd first arrived on Earth. Piccolo couldn't help but feel thankful that this man spoke a language everyone present understood. That was one less barrier they'd have to struggle through.

"This is Earth. Your ship crashed not far from here. You're lucky we happened to be nearby. You must have struck your head on impact." Dende replied with a soft smile. They watched as the stranger immediately placed a hand to his head, feeling for any blood. He then sighed in relief when there was none. Piccolo knew the feeling well. Namekians were unable to regenerate if their heads were injured. A concussion on a strange planet with no one around to help was one sure way to die.

"Wait… Earth? I've never heard of it. And I don't know of any Namekian settlements this far out in the Orion Arm. How many are here?"

"Just us two." Piccolo replied. The stranger seemed truly astonished at that.

"J-just two?! By the Gods, what's going on here?!" he asked, standing sharply to his feet. Piccolo took half a step back at that, a bit surprised. This Namekian was about the same height as he was, and that was still pretty tall on either Earth or Namek. Then, the stranger seemed to glance past Piccolo, catching sight of the humans standing there with mixed curiosity and apprehension on their faces.

"Are they the local species?" he asked, lowering his voice at once. Piccolo nodded.

"Yes, they're known as humans. These ones here are no threat. I've known them for years and consider them close friends."

The stranger eyed them for a while longer, his gaze jumping particularly between the males and females of the group, noting in particular the one who seemed to be carrying a child.

"A bi-gender species? That must be awkward to live with…" the stranger commented, mostly to himself. Sensing that he was starting to calm down a bit, Dende decided to pose a question.

"Pardon me, but could you tell us your name?"

"Sasei of the Condor Clan." He replied somewhat automatically, as though he'd had to give that information on a regular basis. Well, that explained why his facial tattoo was of a black bird, at least. Dende stumbled a bit in his reply, unused to having to append his clan name to the end of it.

"Dende of the, uhhh… The Dragon Clan."

"The Dragon Clan?!" Sasei exclaimed, his attention now returning fully to the two standing before him. "I didn't think any of them survived the Exodus! Are you of the Dragon Clan as well?!"

Piccolo was a bit caught off-guard when he was addressed directly like that. Honestly, he'd had to dig pretty deep to find that information. It was only by virtue of Nail's memories that he knew at all, recalling how Guru spoke of his father, Kataaz, having been the strongest and most naturally gifted of the Dragon Clan. Only members of the Dragon Clan were capable of creating the Dragon Balls, after all.

"Y-yes, I am." He managed to reply after a bit of hesitation. Sasei shook his head in absolute amazement.

"This is incredible… By the Gods, just wait until I tell the Council of Elders I actually found living descendants of the Dragon Clan!" he said somewhat exuberantly, a broad grin spreading across his face. That grin faded a bit when he seemed to remember his present situation. "Wait, what about my ship? Where is it? I need to start repairs right away."

"Don't you worry about that." Came Bulma's voice as she suddenly stepped forward to join the conversation. "I've already called a crew to come recover your ship. They'll be taking it back to my place in a few hours. My dad's the greatest scientist on the planet. He'll be able to help you with the repair work in his lab. You can stay with us for as long as it takes to get you back on your way."

"Oh, that's very kind of you. Thank you." Sasei replied. He then followed the human woman as she led him outside where a Capsule Corp. vehicle was already waiting to take them to West City. The strange Namekian couldn't help but cast one last glance back at the two others before disappearing out into the night.

* * *

The next morning, Piccolo found himself standing outside the front door of Bulma's house on Capsule Corp. grounds. He hesitated to knock. He still wasn't sure why he felt he should have come at all. He'd been a part of Earth for so long that he never felt entirely comfortable learning about his own kind, even though Elder Mori had been perfectly willing to explain all he knew to him. Perhaps that's why he chose to stay here on Earth rather than go with his own kind to their new home world. So then, why would he succumb to curiosity now?

"Uhh, Piccolo? You alright there, big guy?"

Piccolo was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a female voice address him. He looked down to catch sight of Bulma standing there in the doorway, a half-amused smile on her face. He couldn't help but flush lightly at that, a slight tinge of purple touching on his cheeks. How long had she been standing there?

"I, uhhh… I was just wondering if…"

"If Sasei's around?" she finished his sentence for him, her smile shifting to one of definite amusement. She let out a tiny giggle. "Sure thing. He's in Dad's lab right now. I'll show you the way."

Bulma stepped aside to let Piccolo enter before striding down the hall towards her father's labs. Piccolo was able to catch up with her in a single stride of his long legs, remaining next to her as they weaved through the halls. Bulma was chattering away the entire time.

"You know, I sort of wish you'd been here to see it when Vegeta came home last night. He took one look at our new friend's ship and about pissed himself! He said something about it being a Federation police cruiser, and that he was still technically considered a galactic terrorist and all that. He took off immediately and has been hiding God knows where ever since."

They were soon walking into what was more an aircraft hangar than a laboratory, Sasei's sleek black ship resting in the middle. Piccolo was sure this is where Dr. Briefs and Bulma had worked on repurposing his own ancient spacecraft for the trip to Namek, as well as all the Saiyan-pod-inspired ships that came after. He could see Dr. Briefs himself working on a half-charred piece of machinery that undoubtedly had come from the alien vessel. Both Piccolo and the old scientist gave each other a friendly nod of the head in greeting as they passed.

Sasei was currently standing at the aft of the ship, working methodically to separate salvageable parts from unusable scrap. Even the scrap wouldn't be entirely useless, as they could melt down the alien metal and use it to make temporary replacement parts. Piccolo noticed that Sasei was wearing something slightly different today. Instead of the loose vest, he wore an odd, black, alien garment that covered his arms, shoulders, and neck, but left his chiseled chest and abdomen bare. He also wore a belt slung at an angle about his waist, a shiny metal rod hanging from it at his left hip.

Sasei had taken notice of the two as they approached, setting aside his work for now and giving them a friendly smile. Bulma returned the smile before giving Piccolo a small pat on the back – it would have been his shoulder if she could reach that high.

"Alright, you boys have fun! I'm sure you two have a lot you want to talk about." She said cheerfully before excusing herself with a wave of her hand. Piccolo stared after her with his mouth slightly open, half-tempted to ask what she meant by that. He decided just to let it go for now, returning his attention to Sasei.

"It's Piccolo, right?" he asked, then smiled at the other's slightly confused expression. "I didn't catch it last night. I had to ask Bulma for it after we got back here."

"Y-yeah, that's right." Piccolo replied, unsure what else to say. It was now that he truly regretted giving in to impulse by coming here. He had no idea what he wanted to say, or what he wanted to ask. No idea where to start. Luckily, Sasei broke the silence before it approached awkwardness.

"Hey, I know this is rather forward of me, but now that we're alone, would you mind if I asked you a somewhat personal question?"

Piccolo's cheeks flushed at the mere prospect, though Sasei had already turned back to his work and hadn't had the chance to notice. He was thankful for that much, at least.

"I suppose I wouldn't mind, depending on the question." He replied, trying his best to sound completely the master of himself. He normally didn't have to make such an effort of that.

"What happened to your mate?"

Piccolo was somewhat bewildered at the question. Of all the personal things he could have been asked, he never quite expected that one.

"I… I beg your pardon?"

"Your mate. What happened to him? Surely you didn't have Dende on your own. He doesn't look similar enough to you to be clone child."

Piccolo's entire face flushed bright purple at that. Did he seriously think Dende was his..?

"O-oh, no, no no. Dende isn't my son. I'm just his… his teacher."

"Oh, I see. My apologies. I just assumed, since he was so young and you said you were the only two Namekians on the planet… May I ask how he came to be in your charge, if that's the case? Who are his parents if you have no direct relation to him?"

"He's one of the children of Guru, a survivor left on Namek. He came here to be the next Guardian of the planet. I was the previous Guardian – in a way, at least – so he was left to me to train him."

There was the sharp sound of a tool clattering to the ground at Sasei's feet. Slowly, he turned to stare at Piccolo, his bright blue eyes practically glowing in astonishment against the backdrop of black ink that surrounded them. His mouth hung agape for a long moment before he finally found the ability to speak once more, his words coming out in a choked whisper.

"Someone _survived?_ "

"Yes, but just one. He was apparently just a boy when it happened. He eventually tried to repopulate the planet once he was old enough. There are still just under a hundred of his children left on New Namek, all brothers, or 'clone children,' as you call them. Did you never think to go back to Namek and see if anyone survived?"

"No… None of us dared. So few of us had gotten away, we didn't want to risk going back. The Exodus… It wasn't really as big as it sounds, you see. Few people actually left the planet when the environment started to turn, and most of those who survived off-planet were out there beforehand, living in settlements in other star systems. Most of our species stayed on the home world, and were too stubborn to leave their home even when it looked like it would kill them. Most of us considered it just one big gravesite after that, and we kept our distance out of respect for the dead. We never dreamed anyone could have survived that hell."

"I had no idea there were Namekians in other star systems, but I suppose, now that I think about it, it makes sense. Were you on one of those settlements when it happened or did you escape the planet?"

"My parents escaped when they were young. I wasn't born until about six hundred years later on one of the Aurora settlement, towards the center of the galaxy. What about you? Are you one of Guru's children? You said you were of the Dragon Clan, after all. They in particular were notoriously stubborn about staying on Namek."

"No, I'm told my parents sent me away on my own when I was a young child. I landed here on this planet and have lived here ever since."

"Wh-what?!" Sasei exclaimed in disbelief, his jaw dropping once more. "B-but… By the Gods, that would make you nearly a thousand years old! You may still be alive at that age, granted, but you'd be an old man! Truly ancient, even! How is it you don't look a day older than me?!"

"The Dragon Balls." Piccolo replied shortly. "I'd been a little foolish in my past, a little selfish, and I'd once wished for eternal youth."

It wasn't the entire story, of course. He didn't tell him of the horrors of war that had driven him to the brink of madness, which caused his soul to split in half. He neglected to mention King Piccolo, the darker half of his soul who stubbornly clung to life, creating a new body for himself moments before a violent death. It was all too personal to reveal to a stranger, even though he'd already told Sasei more than he'd normally reveal to anyone else. It didn't matter anymore anyway. He was one with Kami once more. He was whole again. He'd prefer the past to stay where it was.

Sasei once again shook his head in astonishment.

"So, the rumors are true, then? That the Dragon Balls still exist?"

"Yes. There's a set on New Namek, where Guru's children live now, and there's a set here that Dende created."

"Dende can heal _and_ create Dragon Balls? What is he, Kataaz incarnate?" he asked, looking absolutely tired of being so continuously surprised today. It seemed the repeated shocks were starting to get to him. Piccolo was tempted to ask what he knew of Kataaz, recognizing what was apparently his father's name, but he figured he'd strained Sasei too much on the subject of the past. Perhaps he should switch to a more light-hearted subject?

"So, Bulma tells me you gave her, uhh… her 'mate' quite a scare when you showed up. Something about you being a police officer?" he asked, trying to use terms the other seemed more familiar with. Sasei gave him a lopsided grin.

"Oh, right. That." He replied, suddenly amused at the memory. "Yes, I'm a special agent for the Galactic Federation Police Force. I'm responsible for tracking down and capturing the more high-profile criminals of the galaxy. I guess Prince Vegeta thought he was still one of those high-profile criminals. Honestly, the Federation has considered him dead for ages now. I have no interest in taking him in as long as he isn't causing harm anymore. I owe his mate for helping me out, in any case. Besides, I couldn't take him anywhere as long as the _Star's End_ is in pieces."

"But that still doesn't explain why he was so scared. Don't get me wrong, you seem strong enough to take out the average alien criminal without much effort, but Vegeta's gotten insanely strong since he's been here on Earth. I can't help but feel his fears were a little over-blown… No offense, of course."

"None taken. In any case, I doubt it was me he was afraid of. It was probably the thought of this." Sasei replied, lightly patting the silvery metallic rod hanging from his belt. Piccolo couldn't help but arch an eye-ridge.

"He was afraid of a flashlight?" he asked, prompting a light chuckle from Sasei.

"It's called a neuronic whip. It fires a beam of energy that directly stimulates the nerves of the body, causing instant paralysis and the deterring factor of extreme pain. It's non-lethal, so long as whoever's on the business end isn't physically feeble enough to die from a moderate shock anyway, yet it could completely incapacitate Frieza himself just as easily as if he were a new-born baby."

"If that's true, and since you clearly know who Frieza was, why didn't you ever use it on him? It seems so easy for you to have taken out the most dangerous genocidal dictator of the galaxy with one little flick of the switch."

Sasei let out a cynical chuckle, shaking his head slightly.

"Ironically, the problem there is that it _is_ non-lethal. We could paralyze him, sure. But what cell could hold him?"

The two of them continued to talk this way all through the day, and before they knew it, night had come in what seemed like the blink of an eye.


	3. The Crane

Bulma wasn't at all surprised when Piccolo once again showed up at Capsule Corp. the very next morning. She met him at the door with a sly smirk already plastered across her face.

"Well, well, well, this is the second time in a week that I'm visited by the Grumpy Green Giant. What's the occasion? Or did you just want to see your boyfriend again?"

Just as she expected, Piccolo's face burned a bright purple at that.

"I-I beg your pardon?!" he barked out in a tone of startled indignation. His protest of the term was met with a light giggle.

"Oh, come on. You've spent more time talking with Sasei yesterday than you had talked to _anyone_ in the space of a year. You've gotten friendly with this guy faster than it took you to even _start_ liking Gohan. You weren't even this interested when the other Namekians were here."

"I take it you're trying to imply something." Piccolo replied stubbornly, folding his arms defiantly across his chest. Bulma countered this by placing her hands on her hips in equal determination.

"Don't play coy, Piccolo. It doesn't suit you. Of _course_ I'm implying something. I think you like this guy."

"What's not to like?" Piccolo retorted as casually as he could, even adding a light shrug of his shoulders. Bulma merely narrowed her eyes up at him.

"Good Lord, why do you have to be so damn obstinate? You know what I mean. I think you _like_ like him. You've got a crush on him. Admit it!" she demanded, giving him a firm poke in the abdomen with each 'like' to hammer home the point. Even anticipation of the subject didn't immunize him from the bright purple blush that spread over his cheeks.

"I will admit to no such thing!" he growled out, still quite intent on not letting the blue-haired she-devil have an ounce of satisfaction in the matter. Rather than fume up as he might expect the little hot-head to do, Bulma's expression actually softened. She took a step closer to him, her tone growing confidential.

"Okay, just between you and me… Is this because you two are both… y'know… ' _guys?_ '" she asked in a low voice as if afraid they'd be overheard, making air-quotes when she said the word 'guys.' "'Cause I know that doesn't really matter in this case. Namekians only have one gender, so it's not like homosexuality's some big taboo for you guys. It's kind of what you're made for, after all. And if you're worried about what the others are going to say, I can always give everyone a crash course in xenobiology if they start anything."

Piccolo could only stare down at Bulma for a long moment. Slowly, he drew in a deep breath, bending over at the waist until he was as close to eye-level as physically possible. He spoke calmly and slowly, wanting to make this next point as clear as he could.

"I'm not going to discuss this with you anymore, or ever again. Now would you please step aside and let me in?"

Bulma stared at him thoughtfully, studying, as though trying to decide if she should let him in or make him suffer until he admitted to what he was being accused of. Eventually, she decided to step aside.

"Knock yourself out." She conceded with a light sigh. He gave her a small nod, mumbled a quick word of thanks, and made his way towards the hall leading to Dr. Briefs' lab. Bulma waited until he was nearly out of sight before deciding to call after him.

"Just remember to wear protection! You might be an endangered species, but we don't need any more babies around here just yet!"

She couldn't help but grin widely when Piccolo nearly stumbled flat on his face at that, turning to glare wordlessly back at her, his face more purple than green. Her only reply was a cheeky wave of her hand. Oh, she'll just add this to the list of moments she wished she'd caught on tape.

* * *

Piccolo was still struggling – and failing – to get his face back to a semi-acceptable hue by the time he made it back to the hangar that held the _Star's End_. Sasei was standing behind Dr. Briefs, watching over his shoulder as the scientist worked over several in-progress design schematics. The Namekian police agent just happened to glance up, catching sight of Piccolo as he walked in the room. He smiled, giving the other an inviting wave of his arm.

"Hey, just who I wanted to see!" Sasei called out, completely obliterating Piccolo's staunch efforts to stop blushing. He found himself staring blankly as the other approached, unsure what he should do or say. He was still reeling from his little exchange with Bulma at the door.

"I'm glad you came today. Progress on the ship's at a bit of a stand-still, so Dr. Briefs and I decided it might be a good opportunity to take a bit of a break from the work." He explained briefly, apparently not noticing – or perhaps not caring – how flustered Piccolo seemed to be at the moment.

"And you… wanted to spend this break in my company..?" he asked hesitantly, actively resisting the unintentional impulse to read too much into the statement. Sasei gave him a lopsided grin, giving the merest shrug of his shoulders.

"Why not? I've enjoyed your company thus far. Besides, I still have a few things I want to ask you. If you don't mind, that is."

"N-not at all!" Piccolo replied quickly. Perhaps a bit too quickly for his liking, now that he thought about it. Sasei didn't seem bothered in the least.

"Great! It'll be good to get some fresh air for a change. Let's get going."

* * *

The two of them headed out into West City, aiming to wander nowhere in particular. They didn't get many startled reactions from the older members of the city, likely because they remembered when Capsule Corp. had played host to the survivors from Namek. It was the younger humans, particularly the children, who were apt to staring. There were the pointing of fingers, the blatant asking of questions to their parents, and the rush of the latter to herd their curious youth away before they piqued the strange green men's ire. Piccolo would have liked to say he was used to it, but there always remained that slight feeling of unease in the pit of his stomach whenever he had to be out among regular humans.

Sasei, by contrast, seemed to have no problem whatsoever. He ignored the humans altogether, their stares and comments going seemingly unnoticed. It made sense, of course. As a galactic police officer, he encountered a myriad of different alien species on a regular basis. Humans were just another category to be added to his experience. He wasn't entirely uninterested in them, though.

"So, what's it like living among a species that has no clue about aliens in general? Surely you've had some difficulties adjusting to a planet like this."

"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't. I'm sure you can imagine the innate prejudices they'd have for something they'd find as strange as we are to them. What you see here is them being on their best behavior, if I'm honest." Piccolo replied, eyeing a pair of gawking women and causing them to immediately look away. That's always how it was. They either stared or went out of their way not to stare.

"Ever been in a relationship with one?"

The question had caught Piccolo completely off guard, his face flushing instantly. It was only by virtue of the fact that they'd been conversing in Namekian since they left Capsule Corp. that he didn't demand an end to the conversation right then and there. It was still a discussion held in private, technically speaking.

"N-no, I'm not a xenophile…" he replied in little more than a mumble, trying not to sound offended at all. Sasei answered with a casual shrug.

"Hey, nothing wrong with it either way. It's nothing against the law or tradition or anything like that. The Namekians of the colonies don't make a habit of pursuing members of other species, but if it happens, it happens."

There was a bit of a pause in which Piccolo attempted once again to compose himself. Like all the other times, it didn't take long to break it again.

"So, you haven't been with a Namekian, and you haven't been with another species… Would I be correct in assuming you're still a virgin, then?"

Piccolo just about gagged on his own tongue at that, his face burning with embarrassment.

"Th-that's none of your business!" he shouted, making no effort at all not to sound offended this time. Sasei couldn't help but let out an amused chuckle at that.

"I'll take that as a 'yes.'" He replied with a smirk. Then, he seemed to feel a bit bad about the comment. "Sorry… I have a habit of asking too many probing questions. Just part of being a police officer, I suppose."

But Piccolo didn't answer verbally. He was trying to figure out Sasei's angle in all this. Was he in on the joke with Bulma? Was this all some scheme to make him look like a fool? If he found out it was, he would personally see to it that certain heads somehow found themselves in different geographical locations from their bodies. Of course, there was the chance that he was telling the truth, that he just asked too many questions as a force of habit. That was a plausible excuse, after all. But then, there was another option…

Piccolo shook the thought out of his head. No, that couldn't be it. There was no way this could be Sasei's odd attempt at flirting with him. They'd just met! No, this was all Bulma's fault once again. If she hadn't gotten the idea in his head in the first place, he wouldn't have even imagined that Sasei could be interested in him. He just had to steer the conversation away from the subject, in a direction that would have no chance of leading to the subject of relationships.

They eventually made their way to a nearby park on the edge of a small pond, likely the city's attempt to keep some fleeting semblance of nature present in the world's most technological metropolis. Whatever its purpose, it at least made Piccolo a little less uneasy. He preferred being out in the wilds, not cooped up in these artificial habitats the humans made for themselves. The two found a somewhat deserted area of the park and sat in the grass.

"So, I remember you mentioning something about a man named Kataaz yesterday. I think I've heard the name before, but I don't know much about him. Could you fill me in a little?" Piccolo asked once they were settled, trying to keep the subject as tame as possible.

"Kataaz? Well, I don't know much about the historical facts of the man, but I know the stories they tell us as children." Sasei began, perfectly accepting of the sudden change in subject. "All I know is that he was the High Priest of the Dragon Clan just before the environmental shift. He was pretty young for the position, and he was considered to be extremely gifted in many areas. He's most well-known for banishing a great evil from Namek single-handedly, and without an ounce of blood spilled, but no one ever specifies what the great evil was. At least, not in the stories they told us kids. I suppose the historians at one of the Great Archives would know, but that's about the extent of my knowledge."

Piccolo furrowed his brows slightly at that. Was that all that had remained of his father? Had he just been someone to relegate to the murky fantasy of children's bedtime stories? Somehow, that didn't feel right. There had to be more to it than that. Perhaps it was about time that he did some probing of his own.

"Do the stories mention anything about Kataaz having a child? And, if so, do you know what might have happened to that child?" he asked somewhat cautiously, unsure at first if he may start sounding a bit suspicious or if he asked too much, or too specifically. Sasei seemed to stare out over the smooth surface of the pond, thinking back to the stories of his youth.

"I think I remember something about him having a son… I'm not sure, though. It's only a vague recollection." He eventually replied with an apologetic shrug of his shoulders.

Piccolo debated with himself for a moment on whether or not to tell him the truth. Would he treat him different if he knew he was Kataaz's son? Would he even believe him at all? After a few minutes more, he ultimately decided the experiment was worth the gamble. After all, what difference did it really make whose son he was? He turned to Sasei, opening his mouth to speak when he was stopped by a loud whooping sound right in his left ear.

Piccolo barked out an expletive, jumping a bit in surprise before turning his full attention to the source of the intrusive noise. He found himself staring face to face with a large white crane. The large bird tilted its head at the two of them, giving each a sideways stare as it fluffed up its feathers. It was standing so close that Piccolo could feel the air shift by his arm as it rustled its wings against its sides. He suddenly felt as though he may have unknowingly spat on Alfred Hitchcock's grave at some point in his life. What was with the birds around him lately? First the vulture, now this?

"Wow, are these creatures always this friendly?" Sasei asked softly from over his right shoulder. Piccolo slowly shook his head, not wanting to spook the creature while it was still in pecking distance of his eyes.

"Never. You don't even see cranes like this in the city. They normally stay out in the wetlands."

"Maybe it's one of Leishu's Messengers?" Sasei offered, his tone implying that it was supposed to be some sort of joking reference. Piccolo gave him a confused look, clearly missing some context. Sasei chuckled lightly, shaking his head.

"I keep forgetting you didn't grow up with all the old stories." He began apologetically. By now the crane had seemed to lose interest in the two, wandering a few yards away just as a few gawkers began to gather to look at it. The crane stretched its massive wings out on either side, giving the small crowd another whooping call. At least the humans seemed suitably distracted by the rare bird to pay any attention to the two of them.

"Leishu is the Namekian god of life. I'm told that, back on Namek, there was a species of white crane that used to look for eggs abandoned or lost by other animals and would care for them as though they were its own. Because of its apparent love of life, they came to be known as Leishu's Messengers. There's also some silly folklore about them bringing eggs to Namekians. Apparently, if a couple were to offer a white crane a fish, and the crane happened to actually be one of Leishu's Messengers, the couple would have an egg within the next year. No one actually believes it, though. Well, at least no one over the age of ten. It's just some story parents tell their kids before they're ready to get the whole sex talk."

"Y-yeah, well… Either way, let's not test the theory…" Piccolo mumbled awkwardly, his cheeks warming slightly. Damn bird… And he had been doing so well to avoid subjects like that. Sasei seemed to have picked up on his embarrassment this time, a sly smirk spreading across his face.

"I dunno, maybe we should. After all, I think I'd pay good money to see the look on your face if you ever got pregnant." He teased daringly. Piccolo could only stare at the other in wide-eyed horror, his mouth hanging agape for a long moment.

"A-absolutely not! I refuse to let something like that happen! Besides, even if that foolish story of yours was anything more than a child's bedtime fable, it wouldn't do anything anyway! We're _not_ a couple!" Piccolo shouted in enthusiastic defense, as if trying to banish the very thought from his companion's mind. Sasei's smirk only seemed to grow ever more deviant at that.

"Oh really? I bet that bird would think we were a couple just by looking at us."

"And just why is that?!"

"Because you've been holding my hand ever since the thing showed up."

Piccolo's breath caught in his throat. He what? He looked down, and his face immediately flushed bright purple for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Sasei's hand had been resting in the grass just between them, and his own hand lay on top of it. His whole body went cold at the realization. It must have happened when that damned bird showed up, when it startled him with that strange call and made him jump. It had been pure coincidence that he'd place his hand right where Sasei's had been resting. He didn't know which he should feel more embarrassed about; the fact that Sasei had said absolutely nothing to him, just let it happen, and made no attempt at removing his own hand, or the fact that Piccolo's fingers had somehow clasped loosely around the other's.


	4. Godfather

Piccolo walked out of his bedroom still tugging lightly at the light fabric wrapped around his shoulders. He wasn't wearing his usual outfit today. Not quite, at least. The fabric of his cape was lighter than usual, and it lacked the heavy, wide shoulder plating that normally served as training weight. It was merely wrapped loosely about his neck and shoulders, looking more cloak than cape. His gi was a bit different as well, made of a softer material and with the added feature of actually having sleeves. His unusual appearance did not go unnoticed. A long whistle sounded from across the Lookout as he stepped out of Kami's Palace and into the eternal sunlight.

"Lookin' pretty sharp there, Piccolo. You an' Sasei finally goin' on a date?" came the raspy taunts of the tower watchman, Korin. His presence up on the Lookout was not at all unusual, as the old feline had often came up to chat with Mr. Popo and whatever Guardian happened to be presiding at the time. The little furball only got away with his comments by virtue of having been Kami's friend for ages.

Much to his surprise, he was becoming used to the teasing comments about himself and Sasei. It may have been awkward for a while after that little incident in the park, but Sasei had the good taste not to mention the day again, even when the two of them were conversing in private. The fact that Piccolo continued to go see him on a daily basis was impossible to hide, and he had no intention of making the futile effort to cover it up. Let them talk all they wanted. He knew what the truth was, and that was all that mattered.

"As a matter of fact, no." Piccolo replied with a small sigh of exasperation. He was beyond getting flustered at such comments at this point. They were just bothersome anymore. "Gohan called not long ago. Videl had the baby last night. He's named me as godfather, so it'd be rather rude of me not to pay them a visit."

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that." Korin replied, a look of stunned recollection crossing his face. "Man, where does the time go? Feels like just yesterday that Goku was up here as a kid. Hard ta believe the guy's a grandpa now."

Piccolo gave the feline a grunt of acknowledgement and left the discussion at that, striding quickly to the edge of the floating platform. He had no interest in such small talk at the moment. His mind was decidedly on other things.

As he leapt off the edge of the Lookout and flew off towards the East, his mind wandered through the call he'd gotten from Gohan a few hours earlier. He'd sounded excited, of course. He was a new father, after all. It was hard not to be excited in such a situation. The boy – he still couldn't help but think of him as a boy – had rattled off all of the information one typically gives when a baby is born. Weight, length, time of birth, the fact that she was indeed a girl, that they'd named her Pan, and, of course, that she looked just like her mother and was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Opinions aside, it was all information Piccolo either knew already or found to be utterly pointless to know, but he indulged the boy nonetheless. Besides, this wasn't what he was wracking his brain over. It was the last thing Gohan had said before hanging up that got him.

' _Oh, and Sasei can come along, too! I know you guys have gotten close.'_

Piccolo's brows furrowed in mild suspicion at that. What exactly could Gohan have meant by that? Had Bulma been gossiping to him again? What could she have said? More importantly, did Gohan actually _believe_ her? It all left a bad taste in his mouth, even as he landed at Capsule Corp.

* * *

Sasei glanced up from his work when he sensed Piccolo approach as he had every morning since his arrival on the planet. He could almost set his chronometer to it. The repairs to the _Star's End_ were essentially complete. There were just a few calibrations left to make before he could take off into space once more and resume his work. He already knew he'd have one hell of a time explaining to his superiors why he had spent over a month on a planet he wasn't technically supposed to be on, but that was a worry for another day.

"Morning. You're looking pretty relaxed today." Sasei commented with his usual genial smile, referring more to his clothes than his attitude. Piccolo's sense of apprehension faded a bit at that, and he allowed himself to return a small smile.

"It's sort of a special occasion. You remember Gohan and Videl, the two whose house we brought you back to after your crash?"

"Sure I do. They're close friends of yours, right? Nice kids. What about them?"

"Videl had her baby last night and I'm to go see them. They said you can come along with me if you'd like."

Sasei raised his brows in a gesture of mild surprise.

"You sure it's okay? I don't know them that well."

"They made the offer. It's up to you if you want to accept."

Sasei took a quick glance up at his ship. The rest could wait a while longer, he supposed.

"Sure. I'm ready whenever you are."

* * *

The two left West City and headed directly for the eastern provinces. Videl had already been released from the hospital and was resting comfortably at home. Piccolo was quite grateful for the fact. He had serious issues with human hospitals and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to bring himself to visit if she was still there. It was the doctors, mainly. He didn't trust them.

They landed in front of the Son house in no time at all. Gohan must have been waiting for them, because he'd opened the door just as they approached. He grinned happily at the two.

"I'm glad you guys could make it. Come on in." he greeted happily, stepping aside to let the two enter. Excited as he was, Piccolo could still read a note of weariness on the young Saiyan's face.

"You look beat. Would I be correct in assuming the 'little angel' kept you on your toes last night?" he commented with a slight smirk. Gohan let out a small chuckle, rubbing at the back of his neck.

"You caught me. Yeah, Pan had no plans to go easy on us for the first night. She had a nap not long ago, but she's been more interested in taking in all the new sights than anything else. She's even given Mom a run for her money, and she just adores her."

Gohan led the two Namekians upstairs towards the nursery room as they spoke. They could already hear the tell-tale sounds of a grown woman reducing the English language to utter nonsense for the benefit of an infant who couldn't understand either way. Videl looked up when they entered, a huge smile on her face.

"Look, Pan! Your Uncle Piccolo came all the way here just to see you! Won't you say 'hi' to him, Sweetie?" she said softly, rocking gently from side to side with the tiny baby in her arms. Piccolo fidgeted uncomfortably, feeling as though Videl expected him to address the child directly and carry on a conversation. As it was, he barely felt at ease just staring at the squirming pink creature in the woman's arms. Pan stared back with wide blue eyes from where her head rested against her mother's shoulder, apparently sharing none of the Namekian's apprehension.

"Would you like to hold her?" Gohan offered, watching with slight amusement as Piccolo seemed to stiffen at the suggestion. He'd known it was probably unavoidable even before he came – it was the reason why he hadn't worn his normal rough-fabric gi – but the foreknowledge didn't dispel the intense unease he felt at the prospect. He'd never held an infant before. Hell, he'd never even _seen_ a newborn in person before now. Both Goten and Trunks had each been several months old before he'd seen either of them for the first time.

Piccolo practically held his breath as Videl gingerly transferred the child to his arms. He stood motionless, cradling Pan carefully against his chest as though she were made of the most brittle glass. She stared up at him in wonder, her tiny little hands clutching at the soft fabric of his gi. Piccolo stared back, equally in wonder, as a realization dawned on him; there wasn't an ounce of fear in her eyes. To her, he was just another mass of blurry color, albeit very vibrant colors. He moved and he held her, and since all of the other things she'd ever seen that moved and held her were people she liked, then this must be someone she would like as well. That was all the logic a newborn needed, and she gave him a happy, toothless smile.

In that instant, Piccolo came to a very important epiphany, one he had vitally needed to have long ago, sometime in his tumultuous millennium living among a hostile race; they weren't born hating him after all.

* * *

Sasei had kept his distance the entire time they were at the Son house, perfectly content to observe rather than interfere. It wasn't until they were flying back towards West City that he decided to air his opinion.

"You're pretty good with kids, huh?" he asked more or less out of the blue. Piccolo furrowed his brows at the comment.

"You deduced as much from _that?_ If that's the case, I'm amazed you're still an agent of a police force at all. I'm not sure what you were watching in there, but that was quite possibly the most stressful thing I've ever done. I didn't dare move for fear of dropping the child."

"Not just that." Sasei admitted coolly. "Bulma and I spoke quite a lot, you know. She told me how you took Gohan in after his father died, how you trained him and even sacrificed your life for him. She told me how well you handled Goten and Trunks a few years ago, and how you've essentially raised Dende all by yourself. It's sort of a shame that you aren't his father. You'd have made a good one."

"This is not a discussion I wish to have right now."

"Is it because you're always the babysitter, never the parent?"

"Enough!" Piccolo shouted, coming to a sudden halt in mid-air. Sasei stopped as well, turning to face him. Piccolo was glaring at him now, fists balled at his sides.

"I'm tired of this subtle interrogation you've been conducting on me for the past month. I've put up with it for far longer than I should have. I'm done. Now you're going to tell me just what the hell your angle is with all this!"

"You're quite the paranoid one, aren't you? Not many others would pick up on something like that."

"So you're playing at being a psychologist now?"

"A good cop needs to have a decent grasp of psychology to do his job properly."

Piccolo bared his fangs in frustration at how quickly and calmly Sasei was firing back at everything he said.

"Why me?!" he barked out harshly.

"Because you're interesting. You're the only Namekian I've ever met that's grown up completely isolated from our race. What's more, you seem to have been outcast by the native species, treated rather poorly, I'd assume. You're unbalanced, maladjusted to society, and severely stunted in your sexual development. You hide behind a façade of stony indifference, and you lash out violently at anyone who attempts to break through to the fragile inner you. Yet, even with all these gargantuan faults of character, I—"

" _Shut up!_ " Piccolo shouted, somehow cutting Sasei's analysis off and proving it to be accurate all at once. He couldn't take it. He couldn't listen to this. It was all too much. To have it all summed up like that, to have it all thrown in his face so casually… It would break him. He knew it would. He'd been holding himself together by a single thread for so long, for so many centuries. To let it all fall through his fingers now…

He did the only thing he could think of. Before Sasei had time to utter a single word more, Piccolo rocketed off through the sky, aiming to put as much distance between himself and the other man as physically possible. He was running away. It was childish, and he hated himself for it, but it was the only thing he had left.

* * *

When Piccolo finally returned to the Lookout, he found only Mr. Popo there waiting for him. The dark genie stood there, hands folded neatly behind his back, staring up at him unblinkingly. The Namekian flinched ever so slightly, but tried to regain some modicum of composure. He knew what this was. The old groundskeeper's game was not a new one to him.

"Have you come to lecture me as well? Well, you're too late. I've done all the listening I care to do for today…"

"Why did it hurt?"

Another involuntary flinch from Piccolo, though he managed to ball his fists at his sides.

"How can you even ask that? Surely, if you heard what he said—"

"I did. Why did it hurt?"

Piccolo let out a growl at the repeated question. He had no interest in playing parrot. He made a move to step by the miniscule sprite, but Mr. Popo's stare seemed to freeze him dead on the spot.

"The things he said are not new to you. You may not have heard it all at once in such a way, but you've heard it all in bits and pieces."

The Namekian swallowed hard, averting his gaze away from the genie. The whole scene was not unlike a parent gently scolding their child for acting foolishly. Mr. Popo continued on.

"I don't think it's _what_ he said that's bothering you. I think it's the fact that _he's_ the one who said it. I think you didn't want him to know. You didn't want him to think you were broken. You—"

"Stop it!" Piccolo interrupted. It was more a plea than an order. "Don't tell me you're in on this whole joke about me liking him!"

"You _love_ him."

Piccolo's fists shook at his sides in rage. Then, they released altogether. Mr. Popo continued to stare at him as intently as ever. He knew better than anyone that Mr. Popo did not joke. Piccolo's entire composure seemed to wilt, as though he'd finally been beaten down into submission after a month of staunch resistance. He was mentally exhausted. Too exhausted to fight back anymore. He raised a shaking hand to cover his face in shame. He wouldn't have allowed anyone but Mr. Popo to see him like this.

"I-I… I don't know, I… I-I've never…" he trailed off shakily, though Popo seemed to be able to extract the rest of the statement directly from his mind.

"Of course you've never felt love before. No one else has ever bothered with you in this way, after all."

"B-but… What am I supposed to do..? I-I don't know anything about… _this_ … A-and, as you've said, he probably thinks I'm completely fucked in the head. What chance would I even stand if I tried?" he asked, his voice now coming out in little more than a hoarse whisper. He felt dizzy, his heart was pounding in his chest, his stomach tied up in knots. Was this what love really felt like? Or was it perhaps loss? Mr. Popo continued, unperturbed.

"Did he seem at all bothered when you spoke to him? Did he treat you any differently? Surely he hadn't figured it all out in that last moment. He must have had an idea for weeks, at least."

Piccolo forced himself to think back to that last conversation he'd had with Sasei. The other Namekian had remained cool and calm the entire time, never once raising his voice, not once growing combative no matter how belligerent Piccolo had gotten. In fact, he could almost remember a constant softness in those blue eyes of his. And now he'd felt good and stupid for freaking out and running away. He truly had behaved like a foolish child. But what else could he do? He was in love, after all.

* * *

Piccolo resisted the temptation to immediately hunt down Sasei and explain himself to him. He was more than willing to swallow his pride and apologize, but he didn't want to seem too eager about it. The word 'unbalanced' resurfaced in his mind, and he had to choke back the rage it brought with it.

He waited until morning, until about the time when he would normally head over to Capsule Corp. to spend the day with the galactic cop. He just hoped it didn't take all day to get back on speaking terms with him. He tried to seem as composed as possible as he knocked on Bulma's door. When the blue-haired woman opened the door, she looked confused.

"Oh, Piccolo. What's wrong? Did you forget something?" she asked, causing Piccolo to mirror her confused look.

"What are you talking about? I'm here to talk to Sasei."

"W-wait… you mean he didn't tell you?" she asked, her eyes wide with shock. "He's not here anymore. He finished his repairs yesterday and took off earlier this morning. Did something happen between you two? I didn't think he was the type to just up and leave without a word."

Piccolo could only stare back at her for a long moment, unable to utter a single word of explanation. He didn't think he was the type, either. Clearly they'd both been mistaken.


	5. Return

It hadn't quite been a year since Videl's baby shower, yet already there had been another one. This time, the ever-growing group of aging warriors and their families had gathered at Capsule Corp. to celebrate the coming of Bulma and Vegeta's second child. It was more just for show than anything, as no one needed to bring a gift for the richest woman in the world, but Bulma had always been a bit bitter about never having had a proper baby shower when she was pregnant with Trunks, accidental though it was. Everyone had been far too busy training for the androids when it had happened.

Vegeta had come to this event by obligation this time, though he stuck to brooding on the edge of the sprawling, park-like interior garden that was the atrium of the main building on Briefs' property. No one dared go bother him, as he projected an aura of pure hostility at having been made to come to such a ridiculous human event. That he'd complied to show up at all was a testament to how much he'd softened over the years.

Piccolo had stuck equally to the fringe of the celebration, though his was more in sulking than brooding. He hadn't any personal obligation to come to this one as he had for Videl's, but he'd been badgered into coming anyway. He'd lost count of how many times someone had told him that he needed to get out more, that he couldn't lock himself away and mope forever. It had finally been Gohan that convinced him to come, having gotten extremely worried about his old mentor over the past months. It was that look in the boy's eyes that finally got him to agree to come. It had been one of his oldest weaknesses, after all. Of course, just because he was made to come didn't mean he would be made to enjoy himself. He'd never been a social butterfly, and he had no plans to become one now.

It seemed someone else had other plans. Piccolo had been lost in thought – or, more accurately, lost in trying _not_ to think – when he felt something lightly tap at his cheek. He looked up, coming face to face with Pan. The infant was hanging out of her father's arms, reaching out to pat her tiny hands against the Namekian's face. She babbled wordlessly, as babies often do, squirming in her father's grasp as though she were trying to wiggle her way out.

"You doing alright, Piccolo? Even Pan's been worried about you." Gohan asked softly, trying to mask his concern in a light joke. Piccolo cast a long glance up at his old friend, then looked back to the infant who was still reaching out to him, her little onyx eyes threatening tears if he didn't give in and hold her. Her eyes had long since darkened from the blue that all human babies are born with to the black that made her more closely resemble her father. He was glad for that. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to take staring into a pair of blue eyes right now. He'd been avoiding making eye-contact with Videl and Bulma for that very reason.

Eventually, Piccolo let out a sigh, reaching out to take the little girl and setting her in his lap. He'd gotten a lot better at holding her since that first time, and he didn't have to be quite as afraid of hurting her now that she'd grown a bit and gotten some of that Saiyan strength built up in her. Pan instantly abandoned all pretense of turning on the water-works, grabbing hold of her godfather's gi and bouncing happily as she resumed her excited babbling in that incomprehensible infant language of hers.

' _Always the babysitter, never the parent._ '

The phrase struck at Piccolo like a knife in the darkness. He still tried to deny, even to himself, that the statement had hurt him. He'd never had any plans to have children of his own, after all. He never thought he'd have the opportunity, let alone the desire. Even now, the concept seemed alien to him, though he could only guess that it had struck some kind of subconscious nerve with him. Besides, the events of nearly a year ago had shown him quite clearly that he classically had no clue what he really wanted until it was well out of his grasp.

Piccolo had patiently waited for Pan to wind herself down and fall asleep against his abdomen before returning her to her parents. He had been halfway back to his usual sulking spot when he heard some commotion erupt back where everyone was gathered. He paid it no mind at first, at least until Gohan called after him.

"P-Piccolo! Come here, quick!"

Piccolo almost didn't bother, not terribly interested in being forced to be social. However, something in Gohan's voice translated into urgency, so he took a quick glance back over his shoulder. He froze in place instantly, eyes wide in utter shock. Even as several of the others gathered around, he could see a figure towering over their heads, the black wings of a tribal bird resting over two bright blue eyes. Eyes that were staring directly at him.

"S-Sasei…" he breathed out, his voice little more than a choked whisper. Even so, his heart bounded at the sound of the name finally passing his lips after so long remaining silent. It was _him_. It really was. He absolutely couldn't believe it.

He came back.

The group of humans and Saiyans parted, and Piccolo could see more of the Namekian he'd regretted letting go for months. Sasei wore a slate gray uniform – it could only be a uniform, it looked so stiff and militant – and he stood there stoically, no trace of a smile on his face. Piccolo's own impulsive smile faded when he realized that the other's hand was resting on the butt of the neuronic whip slung low at his side.

"Piccolo of the Dragon Clan." He barked out his full name in official tone, his expression all cop and none of the softness Piccolo had come to know in the short month they'd spent together. "I'm going to have to ask you to come with me."

Piccolo suddenly felt as though his blood had turned to ice. He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, staring back at Sasei as though to gleam some explanation from those bright eyes of his. They offered none, and merely stared back at him, hard and cold. Everyone else had turned their gaze to him as well, though their eyes held only confusion and concern. He noticed none of them at the moment.

"I-I… I don't understand…" he managed to get out after a long moment. It was quite clear to him what was happening right now; he was being arrested. But why? Had he broken some unknown galactic law while Sasei had been stranded here? Had the officer perhaps found out about all the atrocities he'd committed in his past as the Great Demon King? Or was this simply revenge for how they'd parted ways all those months ago? Piccolo decided that it really didn't matter which. That look Sasei gave him, regardless of its reason, was all it took to shatter what remained of his heart.

"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way." Sasei continued, seemingly unperturbed by the blank, utterly morose expression that had suddenly gripped Piccolo's features. "You can either step outside with me and submit peacefully, retaining some scrap of your dignity, or I can take you right here and now, where all of your friends can bear witness. I'm perfectly willing to do either, but the choice is ultimately yours to make. I implore you to choose wisely."

Piccolo couldn't help but eye the neuronic whip hanging from Sasei's belt. He remembered what he'd been told about it. Non-lethal, but extremely painful. He couldn't help but wonder if he had the will to fight back even if the officer _didn't_ have that weapon. He was beyond fighting anymore. Slowly, having had to force his muscles into action from where they'd been frozen, he stepped forward and followed Sasei outside.

* * *

Piccolo followed mechanically behind Sasei as he led him outside, his body moving more or less on its own. His mind was a haze of mixed disbelief and remorse. He'd known he'd messed up their relationship fairly badly, but to have inspired this much animosity in such a short space of time? He stared at the back of Sasei's head as they walked, the other never making a move to look back at him. He almost couldn't remember what the other's face looked like when it had been smiling at him. Had he truly fucked everything up that badly?

They rounded the edge of the circular building until they were in an area that was suitably blocked off from wandering eyes. Piccolo hadn't the chance to look around for where the _Star's End_ might be parked before he felt Sasei's hand firmly grasp his upper arm. The world whipped by in a blur as he was pushed against the wall of the building, his back pressing against cold concrete. He snapped his eyes shut, fully expecting in that next instant to have the neuronic whip turned on him, to have every nerve in his body fire up with red-hot agony as he was forced into paralysis. What he felt instead was a pair of lips press passionately against his own.

It took his mind a moment to fully grasp what was happening, to realize what an utterly convincing drama had just been played out before him. Once that moment passed, however, he flung his arms around Sasei's neck and eagerly sunk himself into the kiss. He could feel the other Namekian's strong arms wrap around his waist and pull him close, their bodies pressing together so closely that Piccolo was sure Sasei would be able to feel his heart pounding away in his chest even through the thick material of his uniform. Once their mouths were willing to part each other's company, they remained embraced together. Sasei's eyes seemed to have regained their normal softness as he beamed a warm smile at him. Piccolo returned with the first genuinely happy smile he felt he'd ever been able to make, a small laugh of astonishment escaping him as he shook his head.

"You're an ass, you know that?" he commented softly before their lips pressed to one another's once more.

* * *

A bit later, the two found themselves sitting in the grass against the wall, their hands entwined together in what little space there was between them. This time, unlike the first, it was quite intentional.

"I'm sorry for leaving without a word like that. You seemed rather upset at our last exchange, I figured you could use some time before I tried to speak to you again." Sasei apologized softly, to which Piccolo shook his head.

"I'm the one who should say I'm sorry. You were right in what you said, and I reacted childishly…"

"Not at all." The other retorted. "I can understand, in a way. You grew up on this planet without anyone here to raise you properly. You had to figure things out for yourself, whether correct or incorrect, and you've had the culture of this world superimposed onto you even though you may have despised them at the time. It's an intense internal conflict, and I don't envy you for it, but neither do I blame you for it."

"So, what are you suggesting? That I leave for one of the Namekian colonies where I can be 'properly' adjusted?" he asked with a bit of apprehension in his voice, unable to mask the distaste he had for the idea. Sasei merely shook his head.

"After a thousand years of being conditioned to this planet? I don't think it would do you any good, even if I were cruel enough to drag you away from your friends. You had the opportunity to leave with your own kind before, and you refused. You may not be willing to admit it, but I don't think you'd be able to bear leaving this place for any reason. It's your home."

Piccolo couldn't help but tighten his grip on the other's hand at that. It may have been his home, but it certainly wasn't Sasei's.

"And what about you? What took you so long to come back here? And why did you come back at all? I thought this planet was restricted to access by the Galactic Federation."

"That's sort of a long story, actually. When I finally made it back to a Federation station for repairs and gave my report to my superiors, the Namekian Council of Elders grew very interested in the survivors of the Dragon Clan I'd told them about. Once my ship was properly prepared, they sent me out to New Namek first. I spoke with Elder Muri, who agreed that it would be to everyone's benefit if new villages where set up that contained members of other clans. It would potentially prevent the Dragon Clan from dying out altogether from lack of genetic diversity, it would give them technology that they'd missed out on over these last thousand years, and it would give all Namekians across the galaxy a new home world to call their own, even if they didn't come along as settlers. We've always lived on planets with other species, you see. To have an entire world exclusively made up of Namekians once again… It would mean a huge boost for morale across our entire race."

"That's all fantastic, but… That still doesn't explain why you came back to _Earth_."

"Ah, that's right… Well, since a mass migration of Namekians to the new home world is sure to invite trouble, I've been reassigned to the district indefinitely to watch over everything and ensure that the process goes smoothly. I was given the choice of either residing on New Namek or taking up residence on another planet in the district. Earth is quite a ways away, just on the edge of the permitted zone, but since the humans have already had regular exposure to seeing Namekians, I was given an exception to the Federation restriction on interfering with developing worlds. Besides…"

Sasei grew quiet, his hand lightly squeezing Piccolo's this time.

"I don't think I could bear to live on a world that didn't have someone like you in it."

* * *

The two had stayed out there and talked for perhaps an hour or so before they decided it might be best to return inside and assure the others that Piccolo was not, in fact, getting arrested. In all the excitement, even Sasei had let that little drama slip his mind. Surely they would be worrying about him. They may even come looking for him soon, planning some grandiose rescue mission. The thought was obliterated to pieces when the two of them walked into the atrium to a round of applause and several whistled cat-calls.

Piccolo instantly flushed a bright purple, immediately shooting Sasei a suspicious glance. He thought perhaps that he may have planned this, that maybe he'd even gotten the others in on this big scheme of his. His suspicion was proven false as he noticed, for the first time since he'd met the man, a hue of purple peeking through around the edges of his dark facial tattoo, a look of genuine surprise and confusion on his face.

"You know, for a couple guys who were dancing around the subject for over a month, you two sure know how to turn up the heat when it matters!" came Bulma's teasing voice from where she sat, an utterly amused smile on her face as she continued to stare down at her phone. Piccolo's eyes widened when he realized in an instant what she must be looking at. His eyes then wandered to the lavender-haired teenager standing at the mother-to-be's side, avoiding the Namekian's eyes and looking just a little too nonchalant for his own good. Well, it looks like he just found his paparazzi. After all, with as close as Bulma was to having her baby, there was no way she'd have been able to waddle her way out there to take what he was sure was a picture he'd never live down, at least not without being noticed. After all, what good was having kids if you didn't make them do your dirty work for you?

"By the way, Piccolo," Bulma began again, the look in her eyes turning even more sly, as though that were possible. "Do you know what 'Instagram' is?"

"No. Why?"

"Oh, no reason~"


	6. Embracing the New

Piccolo stood on the edge of the landing field at the spaceport on New Namek, watching as a gargantuan ship lowered itself slowly down to the ground. His cape whipped behind him from the force of the landing jets, even though he was standing well away from where it was touching down. It still amazed him how fast everything was being built up. It had only been a month or two since Sasei had come back – it was hard to get a handle of the time on another planet, so he wasn't sure exactly how long – yet so much progress seemed to have been made on the new home world in preparation for welcoming the long-separated members of the species. He supposed this spaceport itself had been constructed in the time before Sasei had come back, but even so it must have only just opened. That large ship on the landing field was just the first to arrive since the Namekian Council of Elders first made contact with the survivors of the Dragon Clan.

"Still hard to believe, isn't it?" came a gruff, older voice from Piccolo's right. Elder Muri stood next to the Namekian from Earth, watching the landing with equal interest. "After all these years, to think there were so many other Namekians out there, scattered among the stars. We thought we were the only ones. Hell, that ship there is bringing more of our people than our entire clan has left anymore, and that's just the start."

"You're not afraid they're going to come and change everything?" Piccolo asked, to which Muri let out a chuckle, shaking his head.

"Not at all. We've been separated from our own culture for so long, it would be interesting to get back a little bit of what we lost, if anything. Great Elder Guru was only a boy when he survived the disaster on Namek, so he didn't know all there was to our society before it happened. Much of our culture died before many of us were born. These Namekians from space still have their heritage intact, though. They'll be able to help fill in the gaps."

Piccolo already knew that much was true. It was clear from how much Sasei had considered common knowledge for their kind that no one on New Namek had the slightest clue about. It made him feel a bit better, at least. He wasn't the only one that had been thrown completely out of the loop as a child.

The people on the ship where disembarking now. Piccolo could see a half-orderly line of green-skinned men file out of the ship and towards the terminal. Even from this distance, he could see a few distinguishing features that he'd been told to pay attention to. Many of the Namekians arriving on this ship seemed to have tattoos of red, tribal-style snakes coiled around their necks, while several others had blue tortoise shells on their right cheek. They were clan markings, Sasei had explained to him once when he'd asked about his very prominent tattoo of a black bird that covered most of his face. His signified that he was of the Condor Clan. The tattooing was an older tradition that was normally only carried out by the seven main clans. The tradition resurfaced after the Exodus, from Namekians who had grown homesick and wanted something of their past to cling to.

He'd asked what the different animals represented, and the answer surprised him somewhat.

"They're representations of the old Gods." Sasei had explained. "Each of the seven Gods had an animal form that they were rumored to take to interact with mortals, and these animals became sacred to those who worshiped the Gods. Each of the seven Gods is represented by one of the seven Great Clans, and so our symbols are taken from the animal that represents our patron deity. The Condor Clan, for example, represents Danirn, the God of the Dead."

"So, each clan has a different animal tattoo they use?"

"Yeah, exactly. They're all different, and usually all on the head or neck, places you can't regenerate. The only two that look the same are the one for the Condor Clan and the Crane Clan, only the tattoo for the Crane Clan is white instead of black."

"Why are those the only two that look the same?" Piccolo had asked, looking a bit confused. He had remembered the story of the cranes that Sasei had told him before, how they were messengers of the God of Life, Leishu. It seemed odd that the only two that were so similar should represent such opposite concepts as life and death.

"Well, folklore has it that Danirn and Leishu are twin Gods. They're brothers, two sides of the same coin. You can't have one without the other. Both of them are represented by birds. Leishu has his cranes, and Danirn has the condors. The lore behind the condors is probably pretty obvious. They eat the carcasses of the dead, so they were said to deliver the souls of the dead to Danirn in the Void. Danirn would, in turn, give the old souls to his brother to be reborn into the mortal realm."

Piccolo's attention slowly drifted back to the present, where he watched the distant members of the Turtle Clan and the Snake Clan make their way off the ship and onto their new home world. He watched as a few members of the Dragon Clan, distinguishable because of a specific lack of facial markings, greeted the new arrivals with open arms and endless hospitality.

Piccolo jumped slightly in surprise when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist from behind.

"Hey there. You two enjoying the sights?" Sasei asked, resting his chin on Piccolo's shoulder. His reply was a smile and a gentle hue of purple on the cheeks. Piccolo was getting better with public displays of affection, but there was a note of slight unease that he didn't think would ever subside. Old habits were hard to break, after all.

"When did you get down here? I didn't see your ship land." Elder Muri commented, unable to hide a pleased smile at seeing the two together like this. He was truly happy, and quite relieved, to see that Piccolo had finally found someone for himself.

"I landed at the next field over and flew over myself. My patrol actually ended an hour ago, but I wanted to make sure the ship made it down okay. It was a pretty big undertaking, transferring a few thousand people at a time, but I'm glad it's over. Well… Until this time next year, at least."

"So, you're free until then?" Piccolo asked somewhat hesitantly, trying not to sound like he was implying anything while they were in the Elder's presence.

"Yep. I've got a good long vacation for the next few months. Unless there's an emergency, I'm all yours." Sasei replied with a light smirk, seeming to enjoy making his mate blush in public. "I'd like to stay here and rest for a night before we head back to Earth. Sound okay to you?"

"S-sure, that suits me just fine."

* * *

Elder Muri said his goodbyes and the two of them returned to the small round house that had served as their home while they had been staying on New Namek. It wasn't there's, more of a guest house set up in the main village for dignitaries visiting from the Federation or other Namekian colonies. Piccolo, ever the introvert, normally felt more relaxed once they escaped the outside and could truly be alone, but that didn't seem to be the case today. He still seemed a bit tense as he took off his cape and turban, setting them aside. It didn't seem to go beyond Sasei's notice.

"You alright? Something on your mind?" he asked, watching as Piccolo flinched ever so slightly. He did indeed have something on his mind, but he had no idea how he should explain himself.

The two of them had grown considerably closer since Sasei had come back. They were finally able to admit to one another how they felt, and Piccolo was actually more comfortable with Sasei now that he knew about his 'quirks' of character. He'd always been afraid that would drive him away, but the other was always so understanding about whatever unusual things seemed to make Piccolo uncomfortable. He supposed that's why it took him so long to buck up the courage to discuss the one subject he was most apprehensive about.

This trip to New Namek to help the new settlers from other worlds had seemed like the perfect opportunity. It was away from all the humans, and they'd even been given this house to stay in while they were there. They had perfect privacy in which to do whatever it is they wanted, yet Piccolo had stopped himself just short of asking on every occasion he managed to find. Now this was their last day on New Namek, the last day they truly had to themselves before they'd be back on the Lookout with Dende and Mr. Popo and whoever else decided to turn up. This was his last chance. They'd been sleeping together since Sasei had come back to Earth, but not once had they had sex.

"I-I was wondering if…" Piccolo began, but his sentence was choked off by a sudden welling up of fear. It was the fear of looking like an utter fool, of asking for something so intimate without having any clue what to do. How did one go about asking for something like that? It had seemed so easy for the humans. Yes, he'd looked in on the more intimate parts of their lives. One didn't watch over all of Earth with omnipotent eyes and not peek into the bedroom once or twice. Still, he wasn't better off now for having observed another species in the act.

Luckily, Sasei seemed to have read his mind and taken mercy on the poor fellow. He pulled Piccolo into a gentle embrace, wrapping his arms around the other and letting their foreheads touch.

"You know I'd be more than happy to, but only if you think you're ready. I don't want you to force yourself into it. I know you've been through a lot." He said in a soft, soothing tone, an almost concerned look in his eyes. Piccolo drew in a deep breath, letting it out in a relinquishing sigh.

"I'm ready." He insisted. Then, with an embarrassed smirk, added, "So long as you show me what to do."

Sasei couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"Don't worry. I'll give you the easy part. All you have to do is lay back and relax."

He then led Piccolo over to the bed, loosening his belt and tossing it aside. Piccolo hesitated, but did the same, untying his sash and letting it fall to the ground. He could already feel his face burning with embarrassment as he removed his shirt. He'd never once appeared naked in front of anyone, having been made extremely self-conscious about his body from living among humans his whole life. He told himself that it was foolish to be ashamed of his anatomy, as Sasei's was exactly the same.

As his hands fumbled with the tie that held his pants at his waist, Sasei's own clasped over them to cease their trembling. He then took Piccolo's lips against his own, locking them into a deep, passionate kiss. He could feel Piccolo relax at the familiar intimacy, letting go of a bit of his unease. Sasei's hands moved to the other's waist, sliding them slowly, caressingly down his sides and over the gentle curve of his hips. Piccolo shivered lightly at the touch, and had been so engrossed by the new sensation that he hardly noticed at all when his pants slid lightly off his hips.

Neither did Piccolo notice that he was being gently pushed back onto the bed until he felt the cool sheets against his bare back. He pulled his lips away for a moment to look up at his mate. The other held himself up so that their chests didn't quite touch, and his breath caught in his throat when he realized that his legs were spread and Sasei had positioned himself between them.

"If, at any point, you want me to stop, just let me know." He offered in the same soothing tone as before. Piccolo merely shook his head, unwilling to speak for fear of how his voice might sound in the state he was in. Sasei looked a tad unconvinced, but merely took it as a sign to proceed slowly.

The tattooed Namekian leaned down to gently brush his lips across the corner of Piccolo's jaw, placing soft kisses down the length of his neck as he let himself lower down on top of the other. Piccolo's heart raced as he felt Sasei's warm skin press against his own. He'd never been touched like this, never imagined that something so simple could make him feel this way. His skin seemed to tingle wherever he was touched, sending tiny shivers of pleasure coursing through him every now and then. Even as the goosebumps rose on his skin, he could feel a warmth growing in him, and a desire for more.

Piccolo gasped lightly when he felt something press against him between his legs, causing him to spasmodically clutch at the sheets of the bed. Sasei's hand moved gently to loosen his grasp, threading their fingers together and giving the other's hand a light squeeze.

"Just relax… I don't want to hurt you…" Sasei whispered, his voice coming out a tad more huskily this time. Piccolo tried his best to do as he said, but his grip on the other's hand surely gave him away.

When Sasei finally pressed in, Piccolo couldn't suppress the raspy moan that escaped his throat, his hand gripping at the other's tightly. He hadn't expected it to feel so big inside him. If he was being perfectly honest, he hadn't known what to expect at all. He had no idea what was average for the typical Namekian. Slowly, gently, Sasei began moving himself back and forth, in and out. As he did, the tightness gradually gave way to an indescribable feeling Piccolo could only guess was that ever sought for feeling of pure ecstasy.

"S-Sasei…" he breathed out between badly-stifled groans of pleasure, his chest rising and falling with each quickened, gasping breath. He could feel an intense warmth gathering into a heat inside him, and he desperately wanted it to grow hotter still. He arched his back up from against the mattress, rolling his hips in time to meet Sasei's thrusts. He was a bit proud that he managed to pull a moan from his mate at that, feeling the hot breaths against his neck. If there was any apprehension left in him, it had melted away once the sounds of absolute bliss began escaping his partner's mouth.

Suddenly, Piccolo's eyes widened as he felt a surge of warmth gush forward inside him. The realization of what it must have been was all it took to push him over the edge. His entire body trembled as he climaxed, a wave of intense euphoria washing over him. Sasei's lips caught his in another gentle kiss as the ecstasy faded slowly into a feeling of misty well-being, parting only after several moments of not wanting it all to end. They were reluctant to untangle themselves from each other, wanting instead to remain entwined together like that for as long as they could retain consciousness.

* * *

Piccolo awoke the next morning with Sasei's arms still wrapped loosely around him, his head resting on the other's shoulder. He was amazed at how good he still felt after it all, even after sleeping through the night. He glanced up at his mate to find that he was already awake – or at least marginally so – and gave him a warm smile.

"Morning. I bet you slept well, because I know I was dead to the world at least." He greeted groggily, though he didn't seem too eager to let the other out of his grasp. Piccolo didn't mind one bit.

"I hope that doesn't mean I bored you." He replied, clearly teasing. Sasei let out a chuckle at that, shaking his head.

"Not at all. In fact, you did pretty damn good, if that really was your first time. You're a fast learner."

Piccolo couldn't help but give his mate a small smirk.

"Well damn, and here I was hoping for some more practice."


	7. An Investigation

Sasei stood at the edge of the Lookout, his brow knit in concentration as he stared down at the world below. He didn't understand how Dende and Piccolo managed to do it. Either of the two of them could stand at that very spot, look down upon the Earth, and gleam any number of fine details about the goings on of the human race, yet he? All he managed to get from the experience was a headache and a better understanding of what the planet's cloud formations looked like from above. He supposed it was just a form of sight reserved only for Guardians, a position only marginally considered to be a low-tier God. Just enough divinity to sense the ki of Gods and grant them near-omniscient sight, yet even these small gifts would be out of reach for an unchosen mortal like himself. That wouldn't stop him from trying his damnedest, though.

"Sasei? Are you alright? Are you trying to look at something?"

The galactic cop glanced behind him when he heard himself being addressed. It was Dende, standing there with a somewhat quizzical look on his face. Sasei gave the Guardian a slightly embarrassed half-smile.

"I-I suppose I'd be lying if I said 'no.' I'd love to ask for your help in the matter, but I don't want to say too much aloud in case…" he trailed off softly, finishing his thought with a nod in the direction of Kami's Palace. Dende looked involuntarily, though he caught what the other meant without actually seeing the person he'd been referring to.

"Something you don't want Piccolo overhearing?" he replied in a whisper, though he knew it would do them no good. Whispering was as good as shouting as far as Namekian hearing was concerned. Still, the impulse was hard to resist when the subject grew secretive. "I think it's safe. He's still asleep, which is kinda weird in itself. He doesn't usually sleep this late."

Sasei nodded in confirmation. He'd noticed it as well. Piccolo had seemed more tired than usual, and he'd been sleeping in for the past week or so. He might have been a tad more concerned about it if it wasn't so fortuitous at the immediate moment.

"In that case, perhaps you can help explain something about humans to me. You've watched them ever since you arrived on the planet, so you'd know their culture pretty well, right?"

"Well, sure, but there's a lot to it. Is there anything specific you wanted to know about?"

"Actually, yeah. There is. What can you tell me about this thing the humans call 'marriage?'"

"'Marriage?'" Dende repeated, blinking in confusion. He then cast a glance back at the Palace once more, in the vague direction in which a sleeping Piccolo surely lay. He let out a small chuckle, shaking his head a bit.

"But why would you want to know about a silly thing like that? You two are both Namekians, and you're already mates as far as Namekian culture is concerned. Why bother with the arbitrary bonding rituals of another species?"

"Admittedly, I don't really have any practical purposes for it…" Sasei began to explain, looking away in mild embarrassment. "But Piccolo grew up here on Earth. He's more accustomed to human culture than he is our own, despite his misgivings with them. Call it sentimentality if you wish, but I'd like to solidify our relationship in a way he'd understand a bit better."

"Sasei, your relationship seems pretty solid as it is. I don't think you have anything to worry about. Piccolo loves you, and he's not about to change his mind about it anytime soon. But… Well, if you insist on learning more about it anyway, you're probably better off asking a human about it. Try some of the couples we know, like Gohan and Videl, Goku and Chi Chi, Krillin and 18… Even Bulma might have some information for you, though she and Vegeta never actually got married. Either way, you're sure to get a better idea from them than I could ever give you."

Sasei thought about it for a moment. Yes, that did make a bit more sense than asking another Namekian. He took a quick moment to check on Piccolo back in their bedroom, confirming that he was still asleep before taking off to start his little investigation.

* * *

Shortly after his preliminary discussion with Dende, Sasei found himself at the Son house, eager to gather as much information as he could in as short a time as was possible. Shortly after knocking, he was greeted at the door by Goten.

"Oh, hi Sasei. Where's Piccolo? Isn't he with you?" the young teen asked curiously, peeking around the Namekian's shoulder in search of the other. Sasei gave an apologetic smile.

"It's just me today. I was actually wondering if I could talk to your mother or your brother about something. If they don't mind, that is."

"Sure, I don't see why not. Mom's cooking lunch in the kitchen with Videl. I can go get Gohan for you if you want."

"I'd appreciate that, thank you." Sasei said with a nod, stepping into the large, circular house, closing the door gently behind him as Goten headed upstairs to retrieve his older brother. The Namekian made his way towards the kitchen. Since the boy had made a point of telling him where the matriarch of the family could be found, he assumed it was an invitation to go find her for himself.

The kitchen greeted him with a symphony of smells as he entered. The two women were indeed in here, and they were busy cooking what must look like a feast for fifty to a normal human. To a Saiyan household, he'd learned that this was merely a normal lunch. So used to cooking ten things at once without so much as batting an eyelash, Chi Chi didn't seem at all perturbed when she looked up from the stove to see that they had a guest. That the guest was a Namekian didn't bother her, as it perhaps would have fifteen years earlier. She'd long since settled any grievances she'd had with Piccolo, and his mate had proven himself to be decent enough. At least he had a respectable profession rather than being preoccupied with mindless fighting all the time. Sasei bowed his head slightly in a show of respect to the head of the family.

"Pardon my intrusion, Ma'am. I didn't mean to bother you while you were busy."

"Pfft, this?" Chi Chi shook her head good-naturedly, giving a light laugh. "This is nothing. When you have to cook for three Saiyans, you start being able to prepare food like this in your sleep."

"I see. That's quite the skill you've developed." He complimented politely, giving Videl a nod of greeting when she was able to look up from her own task of chopping vegetables. It seemed she was still trying to get used to the formidable task to feeding the gluttonous Saiyans.

"I was actually wondering if you'd be able to help me with a bit of research I'm doing on human culture."

"Well, I'm no sociologist, but I might be able to answer a few questions. What do you want to know about?" Chi Chi asked, her attention never quite leaving the giant pot of stew she was working with.

"Could either of you tell me about the human marriage ritual? You two are each married, and for differing lengths of time." He began, hesitating only a moment before adding to the request. "I would be particularly interested in hearing how one goes about asking another to marry them."

Both woman instantly stopped what they were doing to look up at him, staring with wide eyes. They cast a quick glance at each other, as though questioning whether they heard right, before returning their attention to the tall alien.

"Y-you can't be serious…" Chi Chi eventually muttered, unsure if she knew exactly why he was asking such a thing. Videl had no such hesitations about the accuracy of her guess, her bright blue eyes sparkling in excitement.

"Oh my gosh, are you going to ask Piccolo to marry you?!"

Sasei couldn't stop the light blush that peeked out from around the edges of his dark tattoo.

"In a manner of speaking, I suppose I am." He began. He was prepared to explain further, but was stopped when he felt something bump lightly against the back of his leg. He glanced down to see a young girl – almost old enough to be considered a toddler, but not quite – reaching up to cling to the back of his tall boot. Sasei smiled warmly, reaching down to gently ruffle Pan's dark hair.

"Unca Piko?" she asked in that tiny squeak of a voice she had. Sasei chuckled lightly, shaking his head.

"Sorry, no Uncle Piccolo today. I promise he'll come to see you again soon, though." He said softly, recognizing the child's little nickname for her godfather. She gave a little whine of dissatisfaction at being told 'no,' not understanding that one could not magically make a person materialize out of nothingness simply by willing it so. However, she didn't get a chance to protest further, as she was soon scooped up into her father's arms.

"Hey, Sasei. What brings you out here on your own?" Gohan asked with a smile of greeting, quieting his daughter with a gentle rub on the back.

"Sasei's planning on proposing to Piccolo!" Videl interjected excitedly before the one being addressed had a chance to respond. She'd rather fallen in love with the idea, it seemed. The Namekian had taken note that this seemed to be quite the popular subject with the females of the species. Why it should interest one gender more than the other when both were equally involved was something he wasn't likely to ever understand. Just another quirk of a bi-gendered race, he supposed. Gohan, despite being the gender he'd observed to be less interested in such things, seemed suitably elated at the prospect.

"Really? That's great! When are you planning to pop the question? And do you have any specific plan as to how you want to go about it?"

"Well, that's why I came here in the first place, as a matter of fact. I have no clue on the subject and was hoping one or more of you could help steer me in the right direction." He replied, to which Gohan could only blink in slight confusion.

"Why ask us? Don't Namekians have their own ways of proposing to one another?"

"Actually, we don't typically have to propose at all, at least not in such a way as I've heard you humans do it. If a Namekian wishes to be the life-partner of another, so long as the other reciprocates the desire, they simply become mates at the point of agreement. There's no ceremony or ritual to it. It just is."

"But you guys are already living like that now. You're already mates in the Namekian sense, so wouldn't proposing sort of be redundant at this point?"

Sasei gave a somewhat sheepish smile, rubbing at the back of his neck as he avoided eye contact.

"Dende said virtually the same thing when I first brought the subject up to him. By the Gods, I must be sounding like a raving lunatic to all of you… It might not make much sense on the surface, I'll admit as much. He's a Namekian, and I'm a Namekian. It makes sense that we would do things the Namekian way. However, Piccolo was raised here on Earth. He's had nearly a thousand years of human culture impressed upon him, yet he's only just begun learning about our own culture. Since humans put so much emphasis on the importance of asking one to be their life-partner, I don't want Piccolo thinking perhaps I don't care as much as I do by not giving it just as much importance between the two of us. I'm more than willing to do things the human way, if it'll make him happy."

"N'aww, that's so sweet!" Videl commented softly as the explanation drew to a close. Even Chi Chi couldn't help but give a warm smile at it all.

"With an attitude like that, it seems to me you could teach the men of this planet a thing or two about romance, not the other way around." The matriarch replied, unable to contain a wistful sigh.

"Well, I suppose proposing couldn't hurt anything, in any case." Gohan began, growing thoughtful. "But proposing to Piccolo? Man, that's a tough one…"

Sasei's brows furrowed in confusion at that last statement from the half Saiyan.

"A tough one? How so? Why would it be so tricky for me to ask Piccolo specifically?" he asked, growing even more confused when Gohan seemed a bit embarrassed about having to explain.

"Because, well… Here on Earth, it's usually the man who asks the woman to marry him. It's not asking him that's the problem, I'm more worried about how he would feel about being asked in such a way. Since it's something one only typically asks a woman, wouldn't it run the risk of making him feel a little… I dunno… demasculinized? He might not be a male in the strictest biological sense, but if what you say about human culture affecting him is true, then he'll still have the _mentality_ of a human male. He might not appreciate being treated like a woman."

"Oh, wow, I didn't even think about that…" Videl said with a sigh, her excitement seeming to wilt away at the realization. Sasei hadn't thought of that either, but he was quick to come up with an alternative.

"But surely there are exclusively male couples here on Earth, albeit not nearly as common as the male and female couplings. How do they go about proposing to one another?"

The other three adults seemed rather taken aback at the question, glancing tentatively between one another as though trying to form a collective answer between them. Finally, it was Gohan who managed a reply.

"Sorry, but I have no idea. I've never seen one man propose to another, and I don't really know any gay guys to ask. I really wish we could be of more help, but I'm afraid that's all we got."

* * *

It was well into the evening before Sasei started heading back to the Lookout. He'd exhausted just about all resources available to him on the subject of human marriage. Krillin and 18 hadn't been much more help than Gohan's family, Dr. and Mrs. Briefs had both started to ramble on about personal stories and experiences that proved to be entertaining, but utterly useless, and Bulma had merely advised him not to propose by getting Piccolo knocked up, something he had come to know that she'd learned from personal experience. All amusing, but none of it particularly enlightening.

By the time Korin's Tower was in sight, he still had no idea what he should do about the whole thing. It seemed he was no better off now from when he'd started this little investigation earlier in the day. Well then, he'd just have to fly blind, wouldn't he? He was far too stubborn just to let it go at this point. He'd make something up on the spot if he had to, but it would be done.

Piccolo already seemed to be waiting for him when he touched down on the edge of the floating platform they called home. He wasn't wearing either his cape or turban, and still looked a bit weary despite having slept late. Sasei gave him a lopsided grin, hoping desperately he wouldn't be asked about his absence all day. He hadn't yet had the opportunity to devise a convincing enough story. But Piccolo asked nothing, merely stared at him for a long moment, studying him. Then, he turned on his heel and started back towards Kami's Palace.

"Come with me a while, Sasei." Piccolo called out when his mate didn't immediately follow behind. The tattooed Namekian couldn't help but feel like he was back in primary school and was now being called to the Elder Instructor's office to be punished. A quick glance in Mr. Popo's direction offered no explanation, the genie's expression remaining blank as ever. He let out a small sigh before finally giving in and heading after his mate.

Sasei found Piccolo already sitting at the edge of their bed when he got back to their room, his arms folded across his chest and one knee hooked over the other. His face gave no hint as to what was going on. At least, not until the door was closed and the two of them finally had some privacy. At that point, Piccolo's lips twisted into a smirk.

"Did you really think I wouldn't find out what you were doing down there? Dende's horrid at keeping secrets, you know." He teased lightly, inviting the other to sit next to him with a small sideways nod of his head. Sasei sighed in relief, eagerly taking the seat next to the other and wrapping an arm around his waist to pull him close.

"Dende told you, did he?"

"Not exactly. I'd asked where you had gone after I woke up and he'd tried so hard to avoid the subject that I felt I should find out for myself. You may not be able to observe the world from up here, but I still can." He replied, his smirk fading into a warm smile as he allowed himself to be pulled against his mate's side. "I think I should tell you now that your idea, while extremely thoughtful in theory, isn't necessary at all. If I needed some silly gesture such as having you go down on one knee and profess your love for me to know that you care, I'd probably be far too shallow for your tastes. As it stands, you've already given me all I could ever want."

Sasei let out a chuckle, shaking his head to himself. So, it had all been a fool's errand after all? And to think, he'd been so careful to only speak of it when he was sure Piccolo couldn't overhear, yet he'd forgotten that he could easily find out what he was doing as simply as looking off the edge of the Lookout. He'd been stupid to think the other wouldn't get curious about his absence. He couldn't help but blame his own eagerness for the lapse in judgement.

"But surely I can give you yet more." He replied, his smooth baritone lowering into a purr as he moved in to press his lips against Piccolo's. The latter didn't resist at all as he was gently pushed back against the bed, his arms wrapping around Sasei's neck as he slipped rather easily into the mood of intimacy. Any hesitation he had about such things had been destroyed once and for all months ago, and he was no longer concerned about looking like a fool in front of his mate. He didn't mind at all when the other began loosening his sash for him, tossing the length of blue fabric aside before slipping a hand under his shirt, teasing at his abdominals.

Suddenly, Sasei jerked himself out of Piccolo's loose grasp, holding himself up on his hand and knees as he stared down at the perplexed figure laying underneath him. His one hand remained underneath Piccolo's shirt, resting lightly on his lower abdomen. His eyes widened, staring blankly at nothing in particular.

"Piccolo… Suppress your ki… Lower it as much as you can…" he breathed out in an odd tone which Piccolo couldn't quite place. The utterly confused Namekian stared up at the other for a long moment, concern now mixing into his expression, but he did as he was told. Sasei practically held his breath as he felt his mate's ki fade away until it was only barely sensed. He drew in a sharp gasp once it was low enough to confirm what he thought he'd sensed a moment before. Hiding there inside his mate's abdomen, just under where Sasei's hand lay, he could sense it. It was tiny, barely able to register against Piccolo's massive ki, but it was there.

It was a second ki.


	8. Fears

Gohan couldn't help but be a tad perplexed at the absence of anyone to greet him when he landed at the Lookout. It was quite unusual that not one of the four that called this place home would have sensed him coming and be waiting there for him. They were all present, he could sense as much, but they seemed to be gathered inside Kami's Palace, possibly too preoccupied to notice his arrival.

His reason for coming wasn't all that important, of course. It had only been out of curiosity that he decided to come at all. He'd been wondering for days how Sasei might have fared in proposing to Piccolo, if he had gone through with it at all. He'd heard no word from either of them since the Namekian's visit half a week ago to inquire about the subject.

His curiosity starting to get the better of him, Gohan decided to venture into the palace to see what had caused such a distraction that even Mr. Popo was not available on the grounds. He would end up hearing them long before he saw them.

"Absolutely not! I refuse to go and there's nothing any of you can say to change my mind!" came Piccolo's voice shouting from one of the interior rooms. Well, that certainly wasn't a tone he'd been expecting. The reply was a much more subdued voice, clearly trying to defuse an explosive attitude.

"It can't be helped, Piccolo. It had to have happened weeks ago if it's something even Sasei can sense without having any kind of healer training. You can't just ignore it for another five months." Came Dende's gentle rebuttal. At this point, despite standing outside the room where the conversation was taking place, Gohan found himself so curious about the subject at hand that he didn't dare interrupt.

"I don't _intend_ to ignore it! I never said that!"

"Oh, so you finally believe us that it's true? Marvelous. It only took _three days_ to hammer it through that thick skull of yours." Sasei commented sardonically, to which Piccolo could be heard letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Fine… You were right and I was in denial. Happy?"

"I have no interest whatsoever in being right. What I _do_ have an interest in – and a great deal of interest, at that – is your health."

Gohan grew somewhat concerned at that last. Why would Sasei be worried about Piccolo's health? Was he sick? He tried to listen more intently now, growing more interested for a reason other than curiosity.

"You needn't worry about my health. This sort of thing has been happening for ages untold, long before there were doctors and hospitals. I tell you, I'll be _fine_. Besides, Dende is here."

"I-I've never been trained for this sort of thing, though! I'd have no clue what to do if something went wrong!"

"I don't care how many times it's happened throughout the history of the universe, I'm not willing to take the chance that something could go wrong with _you_." Came Sasei's rather firm addition to the argument. The conversation then grew quieter, so much so that Gohan had to press his ear to the door to hear.

"But I… I'm just not…" was Piccolo's suddenly meek reply.

"I know you're afraid of doctors…" Sasei replied, his smooth baritone lowering to a soothing purr. "But you should know that I wouldn't make you go to one if I didn't think it was absolutely necessary. Besides, I would never dream of taking you to a _human_ doctor. We'll go to a Namekian one, someone who deals with Namekians on a daily basis. And it's not like he's going to cut you open and dig around inside you. It'll be little more than a thorough physical, just to make sure there aren't any preventable complications that he can foresee. Hell, you'll probably be over this silly fear of yours by the end of this first check-up, and you'll probably have nothing but trust for the guy by the time you're due to have the egg."

" _Wh-what?!_ "

Gohan clamped both hands over his mouth when he heard himself shout in surprise, but it was too late. Seconds later, the door he'd been eavesdropping through swung open, and he found himself staring up at what he was sure was a rather irate Piccolo. The Namekian stared down at him intently, and for a moment the young Saiyan felt five years old all over again, staring up into the piercing eyes of an angry demon. After a moment in which Gohan wasn't sure if he'd leave the Lookout alive, Piccolo's eyes softened and he let out a sigh.

"Well, you may as well come in and join us. You've heard enough as it is, there's no point in remaining secretive." He offered, his voice taking on a rather weary tone as he walked back into the room, waving for the other to follow. Gohan hesitated, but followed his old mentor into the bedroom.

"P-Piccolo… Is it true? A-are you really..?" he asked, trailing off as though unsure if it was an appropriate question at all. Piccolo, having taken a seat at the edge of his bed, gave a small nod of his head.

"Yes, it seems as though I'm… pregnant…" he replied with extreme reluctance, the last word coming out in little more than a mumble, as though to say it would solidify the concept into reality. It still felt all wrong to him, and admitting it made him feel as though he were a weakling.

"Congratulations!" Gohan replied after a moment, a huge grin spreading across his face. "When are you due to, uhhh… have the egg, I guess? How does it work for Namekians?"

"We think he might be as much as a month along already, so he should have the egg in about five months. We'd have to see what the doctor says to be sure, though." Dende explained, knowing that Piccolo was still far too uncomfortable and even a little embarrassed about the whole ordeal to discuss it in detail himself. "The egg should hatch about three months after that, provided everything goes well up until that point."

"I see. So that's why you guys want him to see a doctor." Gohan replied, casting a somewhat concerned glance Piccolo's way. The Namekian, apparently tired of being the subject of conversation, let out a defeated sigh.

"Look, if I agree to go, can we stop talking about this?"

"Ah, so we've worn you down after all, have we? That didn't take as long as I thought it might." Sasei said, unable to hold back a satisfied smirk. He couldn't help but think he had Gohan to thank for turning his mate's mood in his favor.

* * *

Sasei didn't delay once he had Piccolo's approval to take him to see a doctor. They left the next morning, starting on the three-day-long journey to the police agent's home settlement on the planet Aurora. It likely would have taken weeks for even one of Dr. Briefs' Saiyan-inspired ships to make the trek, but the _Star's End_ was a modern Federation cruiser and could far outpace even Frieza's best ship. The cabin had originally been made to accommodate just a single crewmember, but a few simple modifications had made it suitable for two, if said two didn't mind getting rather cozy with one another. The current two men aboard had no problem whatsoever with this.

"You never really told me what it was like on Aurora. Granted, I never really asked, but I'm interested now if you don't mind explaining a bit." Piccolo asked sometime during the second day of the trip. He was currently laying in the glorified bunk that served as their bed, staring idly at the smooth metal underbelly of the storage units above. The bed was more or less just a rectangular indention in the wall, just long enough that they could stretch out as far as they needed, but barely wide enough for the two of them. They'd had to sleep right up against each other to fit, but neither was about to complain about such an arrangement.

"Aurora's nothing too special, just your average colonial world. Of course, I wouldn't expect you to know what that's like, as you've never been on a colonial world." Sasei replied casually, half of his attention drifting lazily across the slowly advancing star field outside the viewport. He lounged across his pilot's chair, his legs stretched out across the second chair that had been installed for his mate, but was currently unoccupied. His attention wasn't needed at the controls at the moment. It was just a straight shot to Aurora from here, and the ship's AI could take care of any minute adjustments that would need to be made along the way.

"How big are the settlements? Any bigger than the villages on New Namek?"

"Much bigger. They're more like the cities on Earth, almost like West City, though perhaps not with the same aesthetic. Each settlement accommodates roughly half a million people."

"All Namekians? Or are there others?"

"There are others. Namekians aren't even the majority, though Aurora has the highest population of them out of all the settled planets. The other species are friendly enough, though. Turians mostly, along with some scatterings of others. It helps that the planet is so close to the galactic core. It limits the species that would find such planets comfortable to live on."

"Just being near the center of the galaxy is enough to limit who can live there?"

"Certainly. Stellar radiation is higher there than the outer worlds. Unless a species has evolved to tolerate such levels of radiation, it would be extremely difficult to settle there. We Namekians have no problem because our home world was located in a rare trinary star system. We evolved under three suns, so our tolerance is naturally very high. Also, in case you're worried at all, the radiation won't be enough to hurt either you or the baby. We were built for conditions like this, after all."

Piccolo's arms unconsciously wrapped around his abdomen at the mention of the unborn child. He still couldn't get used to the idea of having a kid. He'd been a father-figure before, certainly. But actually having one himself? Being more mother than father? He wasn't sure he was ready for such a thing. He hated to admit it, but he was genuinely afraid. Of course, as if somehow knowing that he was dwelling on secret fears, Sasei changed the subject.

"I've been wondering something as well. Would you mind telling me how you came to have such a deathly fear of doctors? Did something happen to you on Earth?"

Piccolo's arms clenched spasmodically against his abdomen at that. He'd really hoped he could have avoided the subject altogether, but he figured it was inevitable at this point.

"It's… Sort of a long story… A-and I doubt you'd find it that impressive…" he replied. A weak protest, he knew, but he wasn't sure how else to deflect it.

"We've got time. Besides, I'm not asking to be impressed. I'm asking to know the reason behind my mate's deepest phobia. You'll grant me that much, won't you?"

Piccolo didn't say anything for a long moment, as if unsure whether or not he should explain. He'd never told anyone about this. Not a single person, not Gohan nor Dende nor anyone else. In fact, the only person left alive who would know why he had such an intense fear of doctors was Mr. Popo, but that was only by virtue of him having witnessed the events first hand. Of course, if there was one person in the entire universe he could trust with such sensitive information, surely it had to be Sasei. He let out a yielding sigh.

"Alright… It was actually not long after I'd landed on Earth. My ship ended up in the deserted mountainous region that would become known as Yanzebit Heights. At the time, it was in a large nation called the United States of Soviet Russia, though I suppose the names of countries and their political affiliation would mean nothing to you, or even to modern day humans for that matter. I stayed there for years, hoping my parents would come find me. As I waited, I took to watching the human race. I'd had a talent for it even back then. As I watched, they began fighting among themselves. It was a war – a World War – that involved many of the most powerful countries in the world at the time. I was still a child, and I didn't think such violence was even conceivable before I witnessed what they were willing to do to each other."

"That sounds more like an experience that would make you abhor violence and war. How does the fear of doctors factor into that?"

"It doesn't. Not yet, anyway. It was hard to watch, but I couldn't ignore it. Eventually, the war was ended and the country that had started the conflict – Germany – had ended up on the losing side. I was shaken, but relieved that it was over. However, less than two decades later, Germany rose up again under a new leader. It didn't take long for them to get aggressive again, and I couldn't bear to watch it all happen again. I was an adult by this time, and since I had been living in Russia– a country that directly opposed to the political party that had taken over Germany – I snuck in amongst their troops and posed as one of them."

"Wait, you actually _fought_ in their wars?" Sasei asked, sitting upright and staring over at him in astonishment. Piccolo shook his head.

"No, I did not fight. As you'd guessed, I abhorred violence at that point. I joined, ironically enough, as a field medic. No one noticed I wasn't human. The uniform covered most of my skin and they were still so afraid of the poison gasses the enemy had used in the First World War that I was able to hide my face behind a gas mask without question. I probably would have gotten away with it completely, had my unit not been decimated shortly after we pierced into enemy territory – Poland, I think. I remember I'd dragged one of the Russian soldiers to cover and was attempting to bind his wounds when I was struck in the back of the head by a German soldier who'd snuck up on me. He must have seen my face and realized what I was, because I was the only one of my unit to be captured instead of killed outright."

Piccolo paused, having to steady his voice as he prepared to explain what had come next. The memory, so long pushed to the back of his mind, was already stabbing sharply at him even before it had manifested fully. He could already feel his chest tighten on him.

"They took me to one of their camps. I remember being pushed out of the back of a military truck, out into a huge crowd of people. I was so overwhelmed by it all that I hesitated too long to try to run. There were so many people there, all being unloaded off trains and lined up in long queues. They were all being stripped of their clothes and valuables, and marched in front of an officer to determine their worth. The soldiers who captured me called the officer down, and he immediately took an intense interest in me. I didn't learn until later in the day that the officer had been the camp's doctor, a surgeon at that."

Sasei stiffened, his eyes growing wide in horror.

"Y-you mean he..?" he asked, unwilling to complete the question. Piccolo merely continued on, unwilling to stop the story's momentum, lest he shy away from telling it to completion.

"He was benevolent enough to use anesthesia the first time, but that's about where his kindness ended. Once he discovered that I could regenerate, he rarely bothered putting me to sleep before cutting into me and seeing what he could rip out. I remember him saying 'the creature will not die, so why waste valuable medicine on it?' The shock, while not enough to kill me, had weakened me to the point where I remained too weak to attempt to escape, so long as he operated often enough. After a while, it wasn't even curiosity that drove him to keep me around. He just enjoyed taking out his frustrations on something that could scream in pain but survive the experience for the next time."

"By the Gods, he _tortured_ you! How long did he have you? And how did you escape?"

"I can't tell how long it was. It was just a blur after a while. My eventual escape was little more than luck. The Allies were closing in – America, Russia, I can't remember which – so the camp was abandoned and all evidence of what they'd done was destroyed. Unfortunately, most of the evidence came in the form of living people. They were either shot and dumped into mass graves, or else they were burned alive. I suppose I was lucky enough to have fallen into the second category."

"You call burning alive 'lucky?' He really must have messed you up good…"

"I only say it was lucky because it enabled me to escape. They were in a rush, you see, and didn't stay long enough to ensure I was dead. I nearly was when I crawled out of there, granted, but I still had just enough energy left to regenerate my burned flesh. I hid, gathered my strength, and left before the Allies finally made it to the camp. Regrettably, I… I was unable to save anyone else…"

"If you had room enough to regret not saving the lives of others in your situation, then you are a better person than I." Sasei commented firmly, having gotten up from his pilot's seat and made his way over to where Piccolo was laying. He climbed into the bunk, pulling his mate into a close, loving embrace.

"I think I owe you an apology." He whispered after a while. Piccolo's brows furrowed at that.

"What for? You had nothing to do with the war. Hell, it occurred several centuries before your birth."

"Not for that. It was wrong of me to refer to your fear as 'silly.' You clearly have a very good reason for it, and I wouldn't dream of making you confront it if there was any way to avoid it." He said softly, his arms wrapping a tad tighter around the other's shoulders protectively. Piccolo sighed, letting his head rest against Sasei's chest.

"No, it's… It's alright. It'll be nice to finally put it all behind me once and for all. Besides…" his voice trailed off a bit, growing softer as he closed his eyes. A hand unconsciously stroked at his abdomen. "I have a very good reason to defy my fear this time."


End file.
